CDR: Re: RC4 - To license or not?

[Greg Broiles]

On Sun, Oct 08, 2000 at 03:12:20AM +0200, Stefan Arentz wrote:
> Real-To:  Stefan Arentz <stefan.arentz at soze.com>
> 
> Applied Crypto says this about RC4.
> 
>  So what's the deal with RC4? It's no longer a trade secret,
>  so presumably anyone can use it. However, RSA DSI will almost
>  certainly sue anyone who uses unlicensed RC4 in a commercial
>  product. THey probably won't win, but they will certainly make it
>  cheaper make it cheaper for a company to license than fight.
> 
> This was in '96. I do not want to buy a complete BSAFE license.
> It is too expensive and I only need RC4.
>  
> Anyone experienced with this? Will they sue?

No, they almost certainly won't. Over the past few years they've moved away
from their former pugilistic stance and their marketing/sales strategy seems
to focus more on code quality and diversity of platform support rather than
fear. 

--
Greg Broiles gbroiles at netbox.com
PO Box 897
Oakland CA 94604