Rich Ankney says:
ECDSA in particular is not patented. Certicom has patented various
hardware tricks to implement EC over GF(2^m). Certicom also has
a patent on the MQV variant of Diffie-Hellman which can be used over
EC, but has granted a royalty-free license for its use.
I do NOT think Certicom patents are limited to hardware. For example,
it is my understanding that their Point Compression is covered
regardless of whether you burn it in silicon or not. In fact,
it was my understanding that Certicom was planning to release
a software library (a-la BSAFE) that one would buy to add EC
capabilities to his product (and to become a "legal" licensee).
Doesn't look like hardware trick to me.
Likewise, I'm aware of "$1 per copy maximum license fee" message from
Certicom, but haven't heard of ANY "royalty-free" offer or license.
Care to amplify?
--
Regards,
Uri uri(_at_)watson(_dot_)ibm(_dot_)com
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