From: pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 13:37:57 +0800
To: schneier@counterpane.com
Subject: Re: What the NSA is patenting
Message-ID: <84215235509971@cs26.cs.auckland.ac.nz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>>>United States Patent                   Patent Number:  5264794
>>>                                       Date of Patent: 23 Nov 1993
>>>
>>>Method of measuring magnetic fields on magnetically recorded media using a
>>>scanning tunneling microscope and magnetic probe
 
>>techology isn't much different from what's publicly available), in this case
>>all they were doing was protecting their investment (just like the various PKC
>>patents originally assigned to universities).
 
>I'm sure there's going to be a REALLY marketable device out of this to get 
>royalties off of.
 
No, the market for the more mainstream MFM's is small (a few K devices), for 
MFSTM's it's even smaller (a few dozen?).  MFSTM's are usually built by 
universities for research purposes, which means the patent won't affect them.  
As I said before, it's purely a "we paid for the research, we want some paper 
to wave around to justify the cost" thing.
 
>Question: if we pay taxes, then we pay for the research. if we pay for the 
>research, we should be able to see the results, just like shareholders in a 
>company.
 
You can see the results, just read the Journal of Applied Physics or IEEE 
Transactions on Magnetics.
 
I know people like to come up with conspiracy theories about the NSA, but this 
patent won't work as the basis for one.
 
Peter.