eCash reported mortally wounded...

[Steve Schear]

At 05:52 AM 12/11/2001 +0100, Anonymous wrote:
>Lucky Green wrote:
> > Eugene wrote:
> > > On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, Lucky Green wrote:
> > >
> > > > --Lucky, waiting patiently for 2005.
> > >
> > > Patent expiration date? Which one?
> >
> > US Patent 4759063 "Blind Signature Systems" will expire on July 19,
> > 2005. Given that this is a Tuesday and taking into account that whoever
> > may own the patents at that time is not about to file a patent
> > infringement suit on Monday, the last day the patent is valid, I hereby
> > announce a patent expiration party at my place on Saturday, July 16
> > 2005.
>
>No need to wait so long for ecash implementations.  Ben Laurie's Lucre
>software uses Wagner blinding, which is a non-signature based blinding
>system.  The coin can only be verified by the bank, contrary to the
>definition of a digital signature, so the blind signature patent does
>not apply.  Read more at http://anoncvs.aldigital.co.uk/lucre/.

No need to wait at all.  There was never any serious reason to license the 
Chaum blinding patents upon which eCash rested. They applied only to the 
client and their use was or could be made invisible to the mint. Software 
patents, including Chaum's, are not enforceable in a number of western 
nations (e.g., Australia, South Africa and New Zealand). Therefore, the 
development and release of client software with user selectable blinding, 
with appropriate UI warnings regarding possible patent issues depending 
upon client jurisdiction, from these locales should not run afoul of 
international patent laws.

steve