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Didn't Sony try to claim a patent on the specific number, rather than some kind of security argument?
by sliverstorm 10y ago
Didn't Sony try to claim a patent on the specific number, rather than some kind of security argument?
- lisper 10y agoNo. To patent something you have to disclose it, so patenting a secret key would totally defeat the purpose.
- sliverstorm 10y agoWell, I remember that being part of the contention. Sony said, "we've patented it". Everyone else said, "how can you have patented it, when you won't tell anyone what it is!?". Or something along those lines.
- lisper 10y agoIf you can find the patent number that would make it easier to formulate a cogent response.
- sliverstorm 10y agoSome googling suggests it was not a patent they claimed, but that it was an "illegal number". Very possible I confused the two. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number I think at the time what I found ridiculous was that you were prohibited from "having" the number, but of course nobody could say what number it was you weren't allowed to have... seemed like something that belonged in Dr. Strangelove.
- WildUtah 10y agoMotorola has a patent—asserted in the Microsoft case—on a specific number used as an error correcting code.