ESP Wiki is looking for moderators and active contributors!
RSA patent
The RSA patent covers an encryption algorithm which was used in secure communications.
This patent was the result of a lot of research and it was innovative. It was not possible to overturn the patent by any form of re-examination. The RSA patent is thus a good example of why we need to exclude software from patentable subject matter if we want to be free of harmful software patents.
External links
- Wikipedia: RSA
- RSA patent freed just before it would expire
- Software Patent = Protection Racket, 1995 by Paul Rubin, using RSA as an example