cryptoanarchy.wiki

Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!

1994-05-25 - Graph isomorphism based PK cryptosystems?

Header Data

From: hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 86329aaa0d5bcebea4a2ebe4fd8e3ab53cd1604d035e26b8b46b0bb9ac7a62fd
Message ID: <9405251728.AA19322@ah.com>
Reply To: <m0q6AwJ-0003pXC@jpplap>
UTC Datetime: 1994-05-25 17:23:35 UTC
Raw Date: Wed, 25 May 94 10:23:35 PDT

Raw message

From: hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes)
Date: Wed, 25 May 94 10:23:35 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Graph isomorphism based PK cryptosystems?
In-Reply-To: <m0q6AwJ-0003pXC@jpplap>
Message-ID: <9405251728.AA19322@ah.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


   I only worry that if I publish, it could be patented.  And I don't
   want the algorithm to end up in the hands of the software patent
   folks.  Especially if they will be making money off it, and I wont.

If you publish, only you can patent.  One must be the 'true inventor'
(or some similar term of art) in order to file a patent on an
invention.  As someone pointed out, a system can be re-invented; then
that person is also a true inventor and can patent.

Publication is protection against patenting.  This is one of the main
reasons behind such publications as the IBM Technical Journal--the
publication of results not worth patenting themselves, but definitely
worth preventing others from patenting.  Publication of a result
precludes this.

Eric

Thread