This is driving me crazy. I have asked many people that refer to the U.S. government's free reign on the use of patents in general and RSA technology in particular. There are a lot of very respectable and reputable specialists on this list and I hope they can answer my question. What *specifically* gives the government the *right* to use patents developed `with public money' without licensing, or the RSA patent in particular (if the two are not the same)? Court precedents? A specific law? `congressional hearings'? A condition of agreement to receive NSF funds?

what< ?

This little tidbit of information has gotten tossed around so frequently and haphazardly (a bit like an Urban Legend) and it really deserves some sharp scrutiny, at least a bit more than I have ever seen, I suspect it might have some interesting implications to consider.