re why the clipper algorithm is secret in article c pstr lu panix com dfl panix com danny o bedlam writes the algorithm is classified because a military contract or similar government equivalent to military has been let for this proprietary design that the feds say that nsa developed is there a patent is that patent publicly available my betting is that that too is classified unless there has been a major change in the law there s no such beast as a classified patent patents exist to encourage communications and develop the state of the art the year lock is a nuisance but historically has been pretty trivial it s only in an industry which doubles performance every three years or months for some hardware that years is an eternity the same thing applies in civilian development you can t patent something and declare it a trade secret however you can and should mark all software including proprietary code unpublished copyright so that it ever does get exposed you still have some legal protection post berne this isn t required since everything is born copyrighted but it takes a while for people to learn the new rules bear giles bear fsl noaa gov
