17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
And then latter if it was patented I would be exempt from paying royalties on my product, no?
Ahem.
If an invention is successfully patented, any use you make of it requires royalties even if that use began before the patent was granted.
However, RC4 is probably not patentable at this point -- unless Bidzos has a "submarine patent" in process, which I wouldn't put past him.
If there was considerable use prior to the patent application then there would be a good case to be made that it was in the public domain because of this use.