Ed Carp Said:
It has long been held that there is an exemption to 'patent infringment' for educational or other "non-commercial" uses.
Is this just for RSA, or for all patents? If PKP wanted to forbid academic use of RSA (or require a license for it), could they legally do so? Assume for now that the patent is valid, which it may not be...
I'm under the impression that it's for any patent, but I'm not a lawyer (I just play one on the net [grin]).
I ask all this because I often hear researchers looking for a cure for (insert your favorite aliment here) complain that they have to pay patent royalties on the gentically-modified animals they use in their work, and if, say, two patented rabbits produce offspring, they have to pay royalties on each of the offspring as well. This is academic use (to me anyway; I don't know about legally), but requires royalties.
I think it's because they are using them to make $$$. I think. :) Here's the README from the RSA folks that I got with RSAREF. Hope it answers one or two of your questions. :) --------------------------------- cut here ----------------------------------- RSAREF(TM): A Cryptographic Toolkit for Privacy-Enhanced Mail RSA Laboratories (A division of RSA Data Security, Inc.) April 20, 1992 This document copyright (C) 1992 RSA Laboratories, a division of RSA Data Security, Inc. License is granted to reproduce, copy, post, or distribute in any manner, provided this document is kept intact and no modifications, deletions, or additions are made. WHAT IS IT? RSAREF is a cryptographic toolkit designed to facilitate rapid deployment of Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) implementations. RSAREF represents the fruits of RSA Data Security's commitment to the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to provide free cryptographic source code in support of a PEM standard. RSA Laboratories offers RSAREF in expectation of PEM's forthcoming publication as an Internet standard. Part of RSA's commitment to DARPA was to authorize Trusted Information Systems of Glenwood, MD, to distribute a full PEM implementation. That implementation will be available this spring. RSAREF supports the following PEM-specified algorithms: o RSA encryption and key generation, as defined by RSA Laboratories' Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) o MD2 and MD5 message digests o DES (Data Encryption Standard) in cipher-block chaining mode RSAREF is written in the C programming language as a library that can be called from an application program. A simple PEM implementation can be built directly on top of RSAREF, together with message parsing and formatting routines and certificate-management routines. RSAREF is distributed with a demonstration program that shows how one might build such an implementation. The name "RSAREF" means "RSA reference." RSA Laboratories intends RSAREF to serve as a portable, educational, reference implementation of cryptography. WHAT YOU CAN (AND CANNOT) DO WITH RSAREF The license at the end of this note gives legal terms and conditions. Here's the layman's interpretation, for information only and with no legal weight: 1. You can use RSAREF in personal, non-commercial applications, as long as you follow the interface described in the RSAREF documentation. You can't use RSAREF in any commercial (moneymaking) manner of any type, nor can you use it to provide services of any kind to any other party. For information on commercial licenses of RSAREF-compatible products, please contact RSA Data Security. (Special arrangements are available for educational institutions and non-profit organizations.) 2. You can give others RSAREF and programs that interface to RSAREF, under the same terms and conditions as your RSAREF license. 3. You can modify RSAREF as required to port it to other operating systems and compilers, as long as you give a copy of the results to RSA Laboratories. Other changes require written consent. 4. You can't send RSAREF outside the United States or Canada, or give it to anyone who is not a U.S. or Canadian citizen and doesn't have a U.S. "green card." (These are U.S. State and Commerce Department requirements, because RSA and DES are export-controlled technologies. Without the export-control restrictions, RSAREF would be available by anonymous FTP.) HOW TO GET IT To obtain RSAREF, read the license at the end of the note and return a copy of the following paragraph by electronic mail to <rsaref-administrator@rsa.com>: I acknowledge that I have read the RSAREF Program License Agreement and understand and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions, including without limitation its restrictions on foreign reshipment of the Program and information related to the Program. The electronic mail address to which I am requesting that the program be transmitted is located in the United States of America or Canada and I am a United States citizen, a Canadian citizen, or a permanent resident of the United States. The RSAREF Program License Agreement is the complete and exclusive agreement between RSA Laboratories and me relating to the Program, and supersedes any proposal or prior agreement, oral or written, and any other communications between RSA Laboratories and me relating to the Program. RSAREF is distributed by electronic mail in UNIX(TM) "uuencoded" TAR format. When you receive it, store the contents of the message in a file, and run your operating system's "uudecode" and TAR programs. For example, suppose you store the contents of your message in the file 'contents'. You would run the commands: uudecode contents # produces rsaref.tar tar xvf rsaref.tar RSAREF includes about 60 files organized into the following subdirectories: doc documentation on RSAREF and RDEMO install makefiles for various operating systems rdemo RDEMO demonstration program source RSAREF source code and include files test test scripts for RDEMO USERS' GROUP RSA Laboratories maintains the electronic-mail users' group <rsaref-users@rsa.com> for discussion of RSAREF applications, bug fixes, etc. To join the users' group, send electronic mail to <rsaref-users-request@rsa.com>. REGISTRATION RSAREF users who register with RSA Laboratories are entitled to free RSAREF upgrades and bug fixes as soon as they become available and a 50% discount on selected RSA Data Security products. To register, send your name, address, and telephone number to <rsaref-registration@rsa.com>. INNOVATION PRIZES RSA Laboratories will award cash prizes for the best applications built on RSAREF. If you'd like to submit an application, want to be on the review panel, or would like more details, please send electronic mail to <rsaref-prizes@rsa.com>. Applications are due December 31, 1992, and awards will be announced March 31, 1993. First prize is $5000, second prize is $2000, and there are five prizes of $1000. PUBLIC-KEY CERTIFICATION RSA Data Security offers public-key certification services conforming to forthcoming PEM standards. For more information, please send electronic mail to <pem-info@rsa.com>. PKCS: PUBLIC-KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY STANDARDS To obtain copies of RSA Laboratories' Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS), send electronic mail to <pkcs-info@rsa.com>. OTHER QUESTIONS If you have questions on RSAREF software, licenses, export restrictions, or other RSA Laboratories offerings, send electronic mail to <rsaref-administrator@rsa.com>. AUTHORS RSAREF was written by the staff of RSA Laboratories with assistance from RSA Data Security's software engineers. The DES code is based on an implementation that Justin Reyneri did at Stanford University. Jim Hwang of Stanford wrote parts of the arithmetic code under contract to RSA Laboratories. ABOUT RSA LABORATORIES RSA Laboratories is the research and development division of RSA Data Security, Inc., the company founded by the inventors of the RSA public-key cryptosystem. RSA Laboratories reviews, designs and implements secure and efficient cryptosystems of all kinds. Its clients include government agencies, telecommunications companies, computer manufacturers, software developers, cable TV broadcasters, interactive video manufacturers, and satellite broadcast companies, among others. RSA Laboratories draws upon the talents of the following people: Len Adleman, distinguished associate - Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Henry Salvatori professor of computer science at University of Southern California; co-inventor of RSA public-key cryptosystem; co-founder of RSA Data Security, Inc. Taher Elgamal, senior associate - Ph.D., Stanford University; director of engineering at RSA Data Security, Inc.; inventor of Elgamal public-key cryptosystem based on discrete logarithms Martin Hellman, distinguished associate - Ph.D., Stanford University; professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University; co-inventor of public-key cryptography, exponential key exchange; IEEE fellow; IEEE Centennial Medal recipient Burt Kaliski, chief scientist - Ph.D., MIT; former visiting assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology; author of Public-Key Cryptography Standards; general chair of CRYPTO '91 Cetin Koc, associate - Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara; assistant professor at University of Houston Ron Rivest, distinguished associate - Ph.D., Stanford University; professor of computer science, MIT; co-inventor of RSA public-key cryptosystem; co-founder of RSA Data Security, Inc.; member of National Academy of Engineering; director of International Association for Cryptologic Research; program co-chair of ASIACRYPT '91 RSA Laboratories seeks the talents of other people as well. If you're interested, please write or call. ADDRESSES RSA Laboratories RSA Data Security, Inc. 10 Twin Dolphin Drive 100 Marine Parkway Redwood City, CA 94065 Redwood City, CA 94065 (415) 595-7703 (415) 595-8782 (415) 595-4126 (fax) (415) 595-1873 (fax) PKCS, RSAREF and RSA Laboratories are trademarks of RSA Data Security, Inc. All other company names and trademarks are not. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RSA LABORATORIES PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT RSA LABORATORIES, A DIVISION OF RSA DATA SECURITY, INC. ("RSA"), IS WILLING TO LICENSE THE "RSAREF" PROGRAM ON THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW. YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IS REQUIRED PRIOR TO DELIVERY TO YOU OF THE RSAREF PROGRAM. 1. LICENSE. RSA is willing to grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license for the "RSAREF" program (the "Program") and its associated documentation, subject to all of the following terms and conditions: a. to use the Program on any computer in your possession; b. to make copies of the Program for back-up purposes; c. to incorporate the Program into other computer programs only through interfaces described in the RSAREF Library Reference (the file "rsaref.txt" which accompanies the Program) (any such incorporated portion of the Program to continue to be subject to the terms and conditions of this license) only for your own personal or internal use or to create Application Programs; d. to modify the Program for the purpose of porting the Program to any other operating systems and compilers, but only on the conditions that: (i) you do not alter any Program interface, except with the prior written consent of RSA; and (ii) you provide RSA with a copy of the ported version of the Program by electronic mail; and e. to distribute the Program without charge to non-commercial users, but only in accordance with the limitations set forth in Section 2. "Application Programs" are programs which either (i) incorporate all or any portion of the Program in any form, or (ii) interface with the Program but do not incorporate all or any portion of the Program in any form. 2. LIMITATIONS ON LICENSE. a. RSA owns the Program and its associated documentation and all copyrights therein. YOU MAY NOT USE, COPY, MODIFY OR TRANSFER THE PROGRAM, IN EITHER SOURCE CODE OR OBJECT CODE FORM, ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION, OR ANY COPY, MODIFICATION OR MERGED PORTION THEREOF, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT OR WITH THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF RSA. YOU MUST REPRODUCE AND INCLUDE RSA'S COPYRIGHT NOTICES ON ANY COPY OR MODIFICATION, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, OF THE PROGRAM AND ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION. b. You may not distribute copies of the Program or its associated documentation or any Application Program except as expressly provided in this Agreement. IF YOU TRANSFER POSSESSION OF ANY COPY, MODIFICATION OR MERGED PORTION OF THE PROGRAM, WHETHER IN SOURCE CODE OR OBJECT CODE FORM, OR ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION OR ANY APPLICATION PROGRAM, IN SOURCE CODE OR OBJECT CODE FORM, TO ANOTHER PARTY, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THIS LICENSE, YOUR LICENSE SHALL BE AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATED. c. The Program and all Application Programs are to be used only for non-commercial purposes. This means that you may not use the Program or any Application Programs in any manner or for any purpose directly related to a product or service that is provided for sale to third parties (either by you or by any person or entity for whom you provide services) or that is provided (with or without compensation) for general use within a business organization or subdivision thereof. In addition, you may not distribute the Program or any Application Program in any manner that will generate any income to you, including without limitation any income on account of license fees, royalties, maintenance fees and upgrade fees. d. You may not translate the Program into any other computer language, except with the prior written consent of RSA. e. You may not incorporate the Program into other programs through interfaces other than the interfaces described in the RSAREF Library Reference, except with the prior written consent of RSA. f. You may distribute the Program only in the following forms: (i) the unmodified Program, in source code or object code form; (ii) the Program as modified only for the purpose of porting it to another operating system or compiler in accordance with Section 1.d., in source code or object code form; and (iii) as part of an Application Program in executable code form. g. You may distribute the Program only pursuant to a Program License Agreement exactly in the form of this Program License Agreement. You may not vary the terms of this Program License Agreement. You may distribute the Program only in compliance with all laws, regulations, orders and other restrictions on the export from the United States of America of the Program or of any information about the Program which are imposed by the government of the United States of America. 3. NO RSA OBLIGATION. You are solely responsible for all of your costs and expenses incurred in connection with the distribution of the Program hereunder, and RSA shall have no liability, obligation or responsibility therefor. RSA shall have no obligation to provide maintenance, support, upgrades or new releases to you or to any distributee of the Program. 4. NO WARRANTY OF PERFORMANCE. THE PROGRAM AND ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION ARE LICENSED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY AS TO THEIR PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS ASSUMED BY YOU AND YOUR DISTRIBUTEES. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU AND YOUR DISTRIBUTEES (AND NOT RSA) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. 5. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 6 HEREINUNDER, NEITHER RSA NOR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THE PROGRAM SHALL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY DAMAGES FOR LOST DATA, RE-RUN TIME, INACCURATE INPUT, WORK DELAYS OR LOST PROFITS, RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE PROGRAM OR ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF RSA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 6. PATENT INFRINGEMENT OBLIGATION. Subject to the limitations set forth below, RSA, at its own expense, shall: (i) defend, or at its option settle, any claim, suit or proceeding against you on the basis of infringement of any United States patent in the field of cryptography by the unmodified Program; and (ii) pay any final judgment or settlement entered against you on such issue in any such suit or proceeding defended by RSA; provided, however, that RSA's indemnity obligations hereunder shall not exceed $5000, including the cost to RSA of defending or settling such suit or proceeding. The obligations of RSA under this Section 6 are subject to: (i) RSA's having sole control of the defense of any such claim, suit or proceeding; (ii) your notifying RSA promptly in writing of each such claim, suit or proceeding and giving RSA authority to proceed as stated in this Section 6; and (iii) your giving RSA all information known to you relating to such claim, suit or proceeding and cooperating with RSA to defend any such claim, suit or proceeding. RSA shall have no obligation under this Section 6 with respect to any claim to the extent it is based upon use of the Program in a manner other than that permitted by this Agreement. THIS SECTION 6 SETS FORTH RSA'S ENTIRE OBLIGATION AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES CONCERNING CLAIMS FOR PROPRIETARY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT. NOTE: Portions of the Program practice methods described in and subject to U.S. Patents Nos. 4,218,582 and 4,405,829, issued to Leland Stanford Jr. University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively. Such patents are licensed to RSA by Public Key Partners of Sunnyvale, California, the holder of exclusive licensing rights. This Agreement does not grant or convey any interest whatsoever in such patents. 7. RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN RESHIPMENT. THIS LICENSE IS EXPRESSLY MADE SUBJECT TO ANY LAWS, REGULATIONS, ORDERS, OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS ON THE EXPORT FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OF THE PROGRAM OR OF ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAM WHICH MAY BE IMPOSED FROM TIME TO TIME BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. YOU MAY NOT EXPORT OR REEXPORT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE PROGRAM OR INFORMATION PERTAINING THERETO, EXCEPT TO CANADA PURSUANT TO SECTION 126.5 OF THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN ARMS REGULATIONS. 8. TERM. The license granted hereunder is effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by destroying the Program and its associated documentation together with all copies, modifications and merged portions thereof in any form known to be in your possession. It will also terminate upon the conditions set forth elsewhere in this Agreement or if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. You agree upon such termination to cease making copies of, using or distributing the Program and to destroy the Program and its associated documentation, together with all copies, modifications and merged portions thereof in any form known to be in your possession. 8. GENERAL a. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. b. Address all correspondence regarding this license to RSA's electronic mail address <rsaref-administrator@rsa.com>, or to RSA Laboratories ATTN: RSAREF Administrator 10 Twin Dolphin Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 -- Ed Carp erc@apple.com 510/659-9560 If you want magic, let go of your armor. Magic is so much stronger than steel! -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"