So, if JPP publishes it, it would be a matter of trust that he wouldn't patent it. Okay, I have no problems with that. However, it is still patentable. What could be done to make it unpatentable? You can eliminate any advantage to patenting by granting one or more people unlimited sublicensing rights. JPP and I could sign a contract. He agrees to allow me to give out licenses to his encryption system to whomever I want, as many as I want, and for whatever money I want. I give him one dollar for this ability; some consideration (see legal dictionary) is necessary to make the contract binding. We can even put the intent of this agreement--to make the cipher free and to ensure that people know it will stay this way--in the contract to make our intentions clear. JPP could do this with several people. All these contracts could be made public. These people can all say publicly that they will sublicense for free. No single one of them will be able to charge money effectively, when someone else will give it out for free. JPP could even make enough money for a couple of burritos this way. :-) Now, if JPP were to patent it, he could--no problem. But I, say, have been granted the right to grant other people the right to use the cipher, so patenting does not do anything to restrict distribution. The patent fees would be a waste of money. Note that these contracts have two purposes. One, to ensure that the cipher stays free, and two, to communicate that to the general public. Both are necessary. Eric