RFC 1170

RFC 1170 💖

Okay bestie, here's the title block 🎀 This is RFC 1170, called Public Key Standards and Licenses 🔐

Network Working Group: the group this one came from 🌸 Author: R. Fougner (Robert B. Fougner) from Public Key Partners 💅 Date: January 1991 📅 Category: Informational 📚 Obsoletes: nothing listed 🙈 Updates: nothing listed ✨

Status of this Memo ✨

This RFC is a public statement by Public Key Partners about Public Key Standards and Licenses. It's for informational use only, so it's not an Internet standard 🫶 Distribution is unlimited, so share the vibes 🌈

Public Key Standards and Licenses 🔑

So the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University recently gave Public Key Partners exclusive sublicensing rights to the following patents registered in the United States, plus all of their corresponding foreign patents 🌍

      Cryptographic Apparatus and Method
      ("Diffie-Hellman")............................... No. 4,200,770

      Public Key Cryptographic Apparatus
      and Method ("Hellman-Merkle").................... No. 4,218,582

      Cryptographic Communications System and
      Method ("RSA")................................... No. 4,405,829

      Exponential Cryptographic Apparatus
      and Method ("Hellman-Pohlig").................... No. 4,424,414

These patents cover all known methods of practicing the art of Public Key, including the variations collectively known as El Gamal. Literally a whole family of patents, iykyk 🧠

Due to the broad acceptance of RSA digital signatures throughout the international community, Public Key Partners strongly endorses its incorporations in a digital signature standard. 💜 They also assure interested parties that Public Key Partners will comply with all of the policies of ANSI and the IEEE concerning the availability of licenses to practice this art. Specifically, in support of any RSA signature standard which may be adopted, Public Key Partners hereby gives its assurance that licenses to practice RSA signatures will be available under reasonable terms and conditions on a non-discriminatory basis. That's a whole promise, bestie 🦋

We take this opportunity to thank all of those concerned for their collective efforts in making this technology readily available for commercial implementation. 🥰

                                           Public Key Partners

                                           By:  Robert B. Fougner
                                                Director of Licensing

Security Considerations 🚨

This memo discusses fair access to the use of public key technology to implement security. This is genuinely serious stuff, so take it seriously 😭

Author's Address 📮

   Robert B. Fougner
   Director of Licensing
   Public Key Partners
   130 B Kifer Court
   Sunnyvale, CA 94086

   Phone:  (408) 735-6779