[143968] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Property RIghts in Keys
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Thu Feb 12 12:42:11 2009
To: sbg@acw.com
Cc: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@cs.columbia.edu>, cryptography@metzdowd.com
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:24:28 -0500
In-Reply-To: <4739.70.116.23.89.1234456852.squirrel@www.acw.com> (sbg@acw.com's message of "Thu\, 12 Feb 2009 09\:40\:52 -0700 \(MST\)")
sbg@acw.com writes:
> It seems to me that a cryptographic key is property in the same sense that
> the formula for Coca Cola is property.
We're discussing certificates, not secret keys.
In theory, a secret key might be a trade secret.
However, a cert seems almost certainly *not* to be IP.
1) It can't be a trade secret, it is published.
2) It can't be patented.
3) It can't be copyrighted, it contains no creativity.
> Intellectual property need not be brought into being by a creative act.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
Again, that only holds in limited circumstances that probably don't
include certificates. In particular, trade secret protection here
seems impossible.
Perry
--
Perry E. Metzger perry@piermont.com
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