Hello,

I'm looking at developing a secure communications application and I would
like to use the latest and greatest technologies, specifically the NSA Suite
B of protocols. The 3.0 framework has built-in support for elliptical curve
key exchange, secret agreement, and signing, but these technologies are
patented by Certicom, Inc. The NSA has broadly licensed these technologies
for third parties developing applications for the U.S. government and its
allies, but what are the licensing rules for including them in commerical
applications via the framework? If I use the framework to develop a
commercial application, can I be held responsible for licensing fees to
a third party? I apologize that this is more of a legal question, but I
thought someone in this group may have seen this question before.

Thank you in advance,

Jim Wyatt

Dear All

I would like to broaden Jim's question:

Is the NSA licensing of Certicom's technologies valid also outside the US?

How is this controlled when the 3.0 framework is distributed internationally?

Any good answer to these very important questions will be highly appreciated.

Moshe.