Does Estonian RSA chip violate patents?

[NetSurfer]

On Mon, 30 May 1994 rishab at dxm.ernet.in wrote:

> I'm not sure how algorithm patents can be applied to hardware -- you may or 
> may not be able to sell this chip in the US _without_ violating patents. 
> (Though you can freely sell RSA hardware or software outside the US.)
> 

If a PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, ASIC, FPGA etc. contains a program which is
patented or copyrighted, is it hardware or software - is it the same as a
diskette containing the same program code is it the same as a book
containing the code?

-NS

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