4 ms·
What an odd announcement. Is NIST not sure about the patents relating to their selected winners? "NIST expects to execute the various agreements prior to publis
by aliljet 4y ago
What an odd announcement. Is NIST not sure about the patents relating to their selected winners? "NIST expects to execute the various agreements prior to publishing the standard. If the agreements are not
executed by the end of 2022, NIST may consider selecting NTRU instead of KYBER. NTRU was proposed
in 1996, and U.S. patents were dedicated to the public in 2007."
- icegreentea2 4y agoYeah, the full context of the footnote is: "Issues relating to patents were a factor in NIST’s decision during thethird round as NIST became aware of various third-party patents. As noted in Section 2.2.3, NIST negotiated with several third parties to enter into various agreements to overcome potential adoption challenges posed by third-party patents." And elsewhere in the report: "In addition, NIST has engaged with third parties that own various patents directed to cryptography, and NIST acknowledges cooperation of ISARA, Philippe Gaborit, Carlos Aguilar Melchor, the laboratory XLIM, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the University of Limoges, and Dr. Jintai Ding. NIST and these third parties are finalizing agreements such that the patents owned by the third parties will not be asserted against implementers (or end-users) of a standard for the selected cryptographic algorithm. NIST appreciates the efforts of those who helped obtain this outcome and the cooperation of the third parties." So yeah, NIST realized part way through the competition that various 3rd party patents might conflict with KYBER and is trying to de-conflict. It seems like NIST probably got various 'handshake level' agreements before selecting KYBER (otherwise they would just be... really really irresponsible), and is trying to get the final signed agreements done.