# From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@eff.org> # # Can someone tell me whether RSA claims to hold process patents or device # patents on RSA public-key crypto? If you're interested in details of these patents, I have (at home) a copy of (almost all of) the "full wrapper" of the four patents held by Public Key Partners, referenced in RFC1170: Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Diffie-Hellman")............................... No. 4,200,770 Public Key Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Hellman-Merkle").................... No. 4,218,582 Cryptographic Communications System and Method ("RSA")................................... No. 4,405,829 Exponential Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Hellman-Pohlig").................... No. 4,424,414 A couple of others on The List also have copies of the wrappers. But it seems you're asking about the existance of a different type of patent than these? Or you're clarifying what type of patents these are? If they all say "Apparatus" and "Method", is that both a "device" and a "process"? strick