ECC patents

<a href="/facts/Patent/LjT2bG3A">Patent</a>-related uncertainty around <a href="/facts/Elliptic_curve_cryptography/YbjcXIWk">elliptic curve cryptography</a> (ECC), or ECC patents, is one of the main factors limiting its wide acceptance. For example, the <a href="/facts/OpenSSL/aXvs5fo2">OpenSSL</a> team accepted an ECC patch only in 2005 (in OpenSSL version 0.9.8), despite the fact that it was submitted in 2002.
According to <a href="/facts/Bruce_Schneier/kWxPFPmQ">Bruce Schneier</a> as of May 31, 2007, "Certicom certainly can claim ownership of ECC. 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." Additionally, <a href="/facts/NSA/Sg6MGV1o">NSA</a> has licensed <a href="/facts/MQV/JqHG9clI">MQV</a> and other ECC patents from <a href="/facts/Certicom/FNPvPAGe">Certicom</a> in a US$25 million deal for <a href="/facts/NSA_Suite_B/Q1VDGHJy">NSA Suite B</a> algorithms. (ECMQV is no longer part of Suite B.)
However, according to <a href="/facts/RSA_Laboratories/s8kfo2SF">RSA Laboratories</a>, "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." Additionally, <a href="/facts/Daniel_J._Bernstein/KQLuMRTx">Daniel J. Bernstein</a> has stated that he is "not aware of" patents that cover the <a href="/facts/Curve25519/wLr6FMkV">Curve25519</a> <a href="/facts/Elliptic_curve_Diffie%25E2%2580%2593Hellman/zy3IJCeK">elliptic curve Diffie–Hellman</a> algorithm or its implementation. <a href="/facts/RFC_(identifier)/esftTvE7">RFC</a> <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6090">6090</a>, published in February 2011, documents ECC techniques, some of which were published so long ago that even if they were patented, any such patents for these previously published techniques would now be expired.

ECC patents open-in-new

ECC patents