Using GPG in the US

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Caskey L. Dickson" <caskey at technocage.com> writes:

  cld> I can't speak about IDEA, but RSA is patented in the US.  That
  cld> means that to use it you must have a license from the patent
  cld> holders.  Without that license, under US intellectual propertly
  cld> laws you would be infringing upon the creator's (patent holder's)
  cld> rights of sole exploitation of something they devised.

Well, but wait.  I took a look at the RSAREF 2.0 library license back in
Sep. and as far as I can see, you can certainly legally use that for
non-commercial purposes (that is, no one is paying you money due to your
use of it) in the USA.

Here's what the license says (fom the doc/info.txt file):

  WHAT YOU CAN (AND CANNOT) DO WITH RSAREF

       1.   RSAREF is free for personal or corporate use under the
            following conditions:

            o    RSAREF, RSAREF applications, and services based on
                 RSAREF applications may not be sold.

            o    You must give RSA the source code of any free RSAREF
                 application you plan to distribute or deploy within
                 your company. RSA will make these applications
                 available to the public, free of charge.

    [...]

  RSA LABORATORIES RSAREF 2.0 PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT

  RSA LABORATORIES, A DIVISION OF RSA DATA SECURITY, INC. ("RSA")
  GRANTS YOU A LICENSE AS FOLLOWS TO THE "RSAREF" PROGRAM:

  1.   LICENSE. RSA grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable,
       perpetual (subject to the conditions of Section 8) license for
       the "RSAREF" program (the "Program") and its associated
       documentation, subject to all of the following terms and
       conditions:

       a.   to use the Program on any computer;

       b.   to make copies of the Program for back-up purposes;

       c.   to modify the Program in any manner for porting or
            performance improvement purposes (subject to Section 2) or
            to incorporate the Program into other computer programs for
            your own personal or internal use, provided that you provide
            RSA with a copy of any such modification or Application
            Program by electronic mail, and grant RSA a perpetual,
            royalty-free license to use and distribute such
            modifications and Application Programs on the terms set
            forth in this Agreement.

       d.   to copy and distribute the Program and Application Programs
            in accordance with the limitations set forth in Section 2.

    [...]

  2.   LIMITATIONS ON LICENSE.

    [...]

       b.   The Program may not be used directly for revenue-generating
            purposes. You may not:

            (i)  use the Program to provide services to others for which
                 you are compensated in any manner;

            (ii) license or otherwise distribute any Application Program
                 in any manner that generates income to you, including
                 without limitation any income on account of license
                 fees, royalties, maintenance fees and upgrade fees; and

            (iii) license or otherwise distribute any Application
                 Program without the express written acknowledgment of
                 the end user that the Program will not be used in
                 connection with any revenue-generating activity of the
                 end user.

            Nothing in this paragraph prohibits you from using the
            Program or any Application Program solely for internal
            purposes on the premises of a business which is engaged in
            revenue-generating activities.

FWIW.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <psmith at baynetworks.com>         Network Management Development
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
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   These are my opinions---Nortel Networks takes no responsibility for them.