Information Security and Patents
Greg R. Vetter · Stanford University Press eBooks · 2009
This chapter discusses the strategic concerns companies face in deciding whether to patent information security methods. It argues that the full promise of cryptography for information security is unrealized. Companies are increasingly patenting security technologies in an effort to expand their portfolios and better protect corporate intangible assets. Cryptographic methods can enable authentication in an electronic environment and help secure information storage, communications, and transactions. Patenting in the field has expanded aggressively, and greater patent density—sometimes described as a “thicket,”—affects both developers and users, and brings with it the potential to chill innovation. This greater patent density suggests the need for countermeasures such as patent pooling, patent-aware standard setting by firms and the government, and portfolio management of patents.