While there are patents that cover OCB, I have decided to freely license
my IP for “most” software.
Note that the summaries below are
non-binding summary of legal documents (clice on each link for the
legal document).
The parameters of the license are specified
in the license document and that document is controlling.
-
License 1 —
License for Open-Source Software Implementations of OCB
(Jan 9, 2013)
Under this license, you are authorized to make, use, and distribute
open-source software implementations of OCB. This license terminates
for you if you sue someone over their open-source software implementation
of OCB claiming that you have a patent covering their implementation.
- License 2 — General License for Non-Military Software Implementations OCB
(Jan 10, 2013).
This license does not authorize any military use of OCB. Aside from military uses, you are authorized to make, use, and distribute (1) any software implementation of OCB and (2) non-software implementations of OCB for noncommercial or research
purposes. You are required to include notice of this license to users of your work so that they are aware of the prohibition against military use. This license terminates for you if you sue someone over an implementation of OCB authorized by this license claiming that you have a patent covering their implementation.
- License 3 — Patent License for OpenSSL
(Nov 13, 2013).
This license was provided at the request of the OpenSSL Software Foundation
to specifically authorize use of OCB in OpenSSL.
An interesting provision of licenses 1 and 2 is that
the license grant to a party terminates if that party sues someone
else over their use of OCB.
This is a legal scholar’s clever approach for me
to try to discourage others from suing you for using OCB.
If you have a use for OCB in mind that is not covered by the above grants
but for which you believe that a paid-up
license would be inappropriate, please write to me to explain.
Otherwise,
I will license OCB under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.
Here is an old patent-assurance letter
I wrote for the IEEE promising this.
I expect licensees to pay a small, one-time fee.
I intend that no solvent company should find licensing to
be a significant burden.
To inquire about a license other than those above, just
send an email to
rogaway@cs.ucdavis.edu
Acknowledgments. Many thanks to the students and faculty at
Harvard’s
Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
Without their expertise, I would have been clueless about how to
do what I wanted to do.
Thanks also to Dan Bernstein for
a helpful suggestion about expanding the scope of the License 1.
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