Patent-related uncertainty around Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), or ECC patents, is one of the main factors limiting its wide acceptance. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC is an approach to Public-key cryptography based on the algebraic structure of Elliptic curves over Finite fields The use For example, the OpenSSL team accepted an ECC patch only in 2005 (in OpenSSL version 0. OpenSSL is an Open source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols 9. 8), despite the fact that it was submitted in 2002. According to RSA Laboratories, "in all of these cases, it is the implementation technique that is patented, not the prime or representation, and there are alternative, compatible implementation techniques that are not covered by the patents. RSA The Security Division of EMC Corporation, is headquartered in Bedford Massachusetts, United States and maintains offices in Ireland, Israel " However according to Bruce Schneier as of May 31, 2007 Link to Quote:, "Certicom certainly can claim ownership of ECC. Bruce Schneier (born 15 January 1963) is an American Cryptographer, Computer security specialist and Writer. The algorithm was developed and patented by the company's founders, and the patents are well written and strong. I don't like it, but they can claim ownership. " In support of this position NSA has licensed MQV and other ECC patents from Certicom in a US$25 million deal for NSA Suite B algorithms. The National Security Agency/ Central Security Service ( NSA/CSS) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States government MQV ( Menezes-Qu-Vanstone) is an authenticated protocol for Key agreement based on the Diffie-Hellman scheme Certicom Corp ( is a cryptography company founded in 1985 by Gordon Agnew and Scott Vanstone. Suite B is a set of cryptographic algorithms promulgated by the National Security Agency as part of its Cryptographic Modernization Program. ECMQV is no longer part of Suite B.
Known patents
- Certicom holds a patent on efficient GF(2n) multiplication in normal basis representation. Certicom Corp ( is a cryptography company founded in 1985 by Gordon Agnew and Scott Vanstone.
- Certicom holds multiple patents which cover the MQV (Menezes, Qu, and Vanstone) key agreement technique. Alfred Menezes is co-author of several books on Cryptography, most notably the Handbook of Applied Cryptography. Scott A Vanstone is a cryptographer who co-authored the Handbook of Applied Cryptography.
- Certicom holds U.S. Patent 6,563,928 on technique of validating the key exchange messages using ECC to prevent a man-in-the middle attack
- Certicom holds U.S. Patent 6,141,420 on techniques for compressing elliptic curve point representations.
- Certicom holds U.S. Patent 6,782,100 on calculating the x-coordinate of the double of a point in binary curves via a Montgomery ladder in projective coordinates.
According to the NSA, Certicom holds over 130 patents relating to elliptic curves and public key cryptography in general[1].
It is difficult to create a complete list of patents which are related to ECC, but a good starting point is Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG) – a group devoted exclusively to developing standards based on ECC. In Cryptography, the Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG is an international consortium founded by Certicom in 1998. There is controversy over the validity of some of the patent claims.
Certicom's lawsuit against Sony
On May 30, 2007, Certicom filed a lawsuit against Sony in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Marshall office, claiming that Sony's use of ECC in Advanced Access Content System and Digital Transmission Content Protection violates Certicom's patents for that cryptographic method. Events 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund a supporter of Antipope John XXIII burns Jerome of Prague following Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest Media conglomerates with The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is the Federal district court with jurisdiction over the eastern part of Texas and is a part of Marshall is a city of the northeastern region of the US state of Texas. The Advanced Access Content System ( AACS) is a standard for Content distribution and Digital rights management, intended to restrict access Digital Transmission Content Protection, or DTCP, is a Digital rights management (DRM technology that aims to restrict "digital home" technologies including In particular, Certicom alleged violation of U.S. Patent 6,563,928 and U.S. Patent 6,704,870.
References
- RSA Laboratories, Crypto FAQ: 6.3.4 Are elliptic curve cryptosystems patented?
- The Case for Elliptic Curve Cryptography, National Security Agency discusses patent situation
- Open-source group gets Sun security gift. CNET News. com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1355 - The St Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead
- Certicom Sells Licensing Rights to NSA, October 24, 2003
- Alexander Klimov, Re: ECC patents?, Cryptography at metzdowd. com, October 15, 2005
- Bodo Moeller, Re: ECC patents?, Cryptography at metzdowd. com, October 17, 2005
- SECG: Patents held by Certicom as of May 26, 1999 and as of February 10, 2005
- Harper, Menezes and Vanstone, Public-Key Cryptosystems with Very Small Key Lengths, EUROCRYPT '92 (LNCS 658)
- Certicom v Sony complaint, [2]
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