Whats with the patent on RSA?
Older versions of PGP (up to 2.3a) were thought to be violating the patent on the RSA encryption algorithm held by Public Key Partners (PKP), a patent that was only valid in the United States. This was never tested in court, however, and later versions of PGP have been made with various agreements and licenses in force which effectively settle the patent issue. So-called “international” versions and older versions (previous to ViaCrypt PGP 2.4), however, were still considered in violation by PKP. If you were in the USA, you used them at your own risk! However, the patent has since expired, so there are no known patent issues with RSA now. For more information on patents in general, see the patent section of Ius Mentis.
Older versions of PGP (up to 2.3a) were thought to be violating the patent on the RSA encryption algorithm held by Public Key Partners (PKP), a patent that was only valid in the United States. This was never tested in court, however, and later versions of PGP have been made with various agreements and licenses in force which effectively settle the patent issue. So-called “international” versions and older versions (previous to ViaCrypt PGP 2.4), however, were still considered in violation by PKP. If you were in the USA, you used them at your own risk! However, the patent has since expired, so there are no known patent issues with RSA now.
