GOST ??

Does anyone know what the legal status of the Russian cypher "GOST" is ? Is it public domain, patented, proprietary or what ? It looks like it would be more efficient than DES when implemented on a microprocessor or microcontroller. Also the DDJ article mentioned that like DES, there are good and bad S-boxes for GOST. Does anyone know how to choose a strong S-box for GOST ? Jim Prickett