[Cryptography] [cryptography] Dual EC backdoor was patented by Certicom?

[Jerry Leichter]

On Jun 16, 2014, at 8:34 AM, ianG <iang at iang.org> wrote:
> Indeed.  I'm fascinated to understand Certicom's business thinking.
> What is the business model behind patenting backdoors?
There may not be any, as such.  In 2005, patent trolls were still a minor part of the patent landscape.  Most lawsuits were between big companies, and the most important thing to have in your war chest in such a battle is a large collection of patents you can trade to fend of an attacker.

In addition, if you're trying to prove that you're a significant company in a technical field, being able to say you're "one of the top three patent holders world-wide in cryptographic algorithms" (or whatever low number you can hope to put in there; I'll bet IBM is number 1 even today) is good for your marketing position.
                                                        -- Jerry

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