Legal implications of a PGP DLL
I know this has been hashed over recently, but I never found out (or don't remember) what was decided in regards to the legal implications of a PGP functional DLL for Windows. If a company (i.e. SPRY, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) were to write a PGP DLL and make it publicly available, would that be legal? Viacrypt just straight out charges too damn much to make it worth licensing. So, if a company wants to make it's mail client PGP friendly, but not actually supply the encryption algoritm, etc. Would a DLL be legal if it were in the public domain?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INTERNETWORKING THE DESKTOP<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Brad Shantz bshantz@spry.com Senior Software Engineer SPRY Inc. Direct #: (206)-442-8251 316 Occidental Ave. S. Main #: (206)-447-0300 Suite 316 Fax #: (206)-447-9008 Seattle, WA 98104 WWW URL: http://WWW.SPRY.COM
PGP Public Key at: http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bal/pks-toplev.html Or email: pgp-public-keys@pgp.ai.mit.edu Subj: GET bshantz
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Tue, 13 Dec 1994 bshantz@spry.com wrote:
I know this has been hashed over recently, but I never found out (or don't remember) what was decided in regards to the legal implications of a PGP functional DLL for Windows. If a company (i.e. SPRY, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) were to write a PGP DLL and make it publicly available, would that be legal?
Can't see any reason why not. The PGP code is freely redistributable, it's what the recipients do with the patented parts of it that will matter. e.g. use of the IDEA code in a commercial environment will require the users to obtain a licence. - - Andy +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Andrew Brown Internet <asb@nexor.co.uk> Telephone +44 115 952 0585 | | PGP (2048/9611055D): 69 AA EF 72 80 7A 63 3A C0 1F 9F 66 64 02 4C 88 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQBFAwUBLu785r7jCNwZnGvhAQGhFQGAoQ4bwedaO27TvmW5KQ6muZ3ftOMqAIqi Stdloip3qZqXjHMU9zccvkxTIch7OaKI =bsJJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
From: bshantz@spry.com [..] I never found out [...] what was decided in regards to the legal implications of a PGP functional DLL for Windows. If a PGP DLL were rewritten from scratch and placed in the public domain the only concern would be patent licensure. By rewriting, you've removed any sort of copyright issue. The only was you'd get an RSA license is to use RSAREF. That means that use of the DLL would be restricted to non-commercial use. You'd also need an IDEA license, but I suspect that if you're just doing something PGP compatible you'd be able to obtain that, especially since it would be non-commercial because of RSAREF. If you need commercial accessibility, you'd need licenses from RSADSI and Ascom-Tech. You could then give the DLL away, but RSADSI wants minimum royalties, so you'd be subsidizing the public. I don't know the situation with Ascom. Eric
From: eric@remailer.net (Eric Hughes) The only was you'd get an RSA license is to use RSAREF. That means Excuse me. "The only way you'd get a _free_ RSA license ..." Eric
participants (3)
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Andy Brown -
bshantz＠spry.com -
eric＠remailer.net