🚀 go-pugleaf

I know that this is probably the wrong group to ask, but
nevertheless, here it goes.

From the RSA FAQ, page 4, answer to question 1.5:

"The authors of patent 4,218,582 claim that it applies to all uses of
public-key cryptography. It has been patented throughout the world."

The claims in patent 4,218,582 cover any use of public key
cryptosystems - regardless of the method used. Seems that the whole
idea is patented. (Please do not start a flame war about how stupid a
patent law that permits an algorithm to be patented is.)

What bothers me are the words "throughout the world". Till now, I
thought that it only applies in the USA. So I asked the following
question to the editor of the RSA FAQ:

> Could you please quote some other countries (besides the USA),
> where public-key cryptography has been patented? Please, state
> the particular patent numbers.

In his reply, Paul Fahn wrote:

> I do not currently have the exact information. I know that it is
> patented "in Europe" but don't have the number. If there are others
> asking for this information, I will try to find out and add it to
> later revisions of the faq.

Well, so I am asking those of you who are "in Europe": do you have any
information about the above? Could you tell me in which countries
exactly public-key cryptography is patented and which are the patent
numbers? Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Vesselin
-- 
Vesselin Vladimirov Bontchev          Virus Test Center, University of Hamburg
Tel.:+49-40-54715-224, Fax: +49-40-54715-226      Fachbereich Informatik - AGN
< PGP 2.0 public key available on request. > Vogt-Koelln-Strasse 30, rm. 107 C
e-mail: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de    D-2000 Hamburg 54, Germany