RE: 40bit DES? & IBM Patents

Robert Moskowitz <rgm-sec@htt-consult.com> Fri, 15 May 1998 03:07 UTC

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Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 05:54:52 -0400
To: Bob Baldwin <baldwin@RSA.COM>, ipsec@tis.com
From: Robert Moskowitz <rgm-sec@htt-consult.com>
Subject: RE: 40bit DES? & IBM Patents
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At 08:55 AM 5/13/98 -0700, Bob Baldwin wrote:
>	Let me tell you a cautionary tale about 40 bit DES
>and the IBM patent.  The SET Protocol design committee
>agreed to add IBM's 40 bit DES (called CDMF) as a mandatory
>part of the SET protocol.  IBM wrote a letter that said that
>the CDMF patent would be licensed in a non-discriminatory
>way for $10,000 plus a "MINOR" concession.  This all seemed
>reasonable, so the committee made it a mandatory feature.

draft-hoffman-des40-02.txt does not use CDMF, and specifically states this
at the end.  I will ask the authors to add a statement (hopefully backed by
IBM) that this method does not infringe on the CDMF patent, nor anyother
published IPR.


Robert Moskowitz
ICSA
Security Interest EMail: rgm-sec@htt-consult.com