PKWare Files a Patent Application for Secure .zip 281
prostoalex writes "The battle of ZIP formats might intensify as PKWare filed an application with USPTO to obtain a patent on its Secure Zip technology, which pretty much involves archiving with strong cryptography. If the patent gets granted, PKWare will license its algorithms for other software manufacturers. A representative of Aladdin Systems summed it up: "The good thing about the .zip file format was that you knew you could send it to everyone. Now that's getting broke.""
extensions (Score:5, Insightful)
But it's likely that they'll keep using ZIP because of its brand recognition. That's really too bad, but at the same it might frustrate people enough to get them to try another compression format, like BZIP.
Why not GPG? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why not zip and then use GPG [gnupg.org]?
I'll stick to bzip (Score:3, Insightful)
The next widespread compression (Score:4, Insightful)
If they get a patent... (Score:5, Insightful)
Its insane that you can patent "Doing something someone already did, but doing it to THIS instead of THAT." I can, perhaps, buy an argument that encryption (like the first time anyone did it) was patentable. Maybe even that different algorithms for encryption could be patentable.
But once encryption is there, applying encryption to ANYTHING should not be patentable. A zip file is just data. Encrypting it (or encrypting the contents) is not a novel concept.
So while I would love to see the PTO demonstrate some miniscule amount of clue and reject the patent, I will be very surprised if they actually do.
What's worth a patent? (Score:5, Insightful)
But is it worth a PATENT to now associate the "security" features of ZIP
with "strong cryptography algorithms"?
That's like Microsoft filing a patent for a "not crashing OS", as reaction
to market research reports that show how people are not happy anymore with
traditional (crashing) MS products.
WinZip Publishes AES Encryption Standard (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, it sounds like either they already reverse engineered the pkware zip encryption, or established their own encryption.
I wonder how many times users will complain to company xyz (that is using pkware encryption for their products) about their files not working in winzip, before company xyz will drop their pkware proprietary encryption in favor of winzip's published (and functional) encryption.
Re:extensions (Score:5, Insightful)
What's an extension? I use Content-Types like application/x-patented-zip and name all my Zip(TM) files "archive.this.is.not.tar", and when I am forced to use Windows I never see an "extension".
Seriously, the true value of their intellectual "property" (sic) is that of their trademarked brand name. As an archive format it is pretty uninteresting. Everybody knows what "zip" means. Adding a patent in this area to me seems like a dumb move; another one of those all-to-common desparation moves by a failing company to have the USPTO save it. In the late 1990s companies looked for VC firms to save them from their own shortcomings, today the trendy savior seems to be the USPTO.
To me this move just screams "Use our patented technology to secure your important files....BTW you must use only our software and we can revoke your rights to use our patent at any time rendering your important files so secure that not even you can read them legally again!" That's enough to keep me from using their format; it's my data and I don't want my access to it to be contingent upon some party outside of my control.
If they're smart, it won't break .zip's usefulness (Score:4, Insightful)
That way, you could always still send either an unencrypted or an encrypted zip - you pay for the ability to encrypt them, fine, but you can unencrypt them easily enough no matter where you are or whose winzip you're using.
It's kinda like Acrobat - anyone can read their files, nobody can create them without buying the utility (blah blah freeware acrobat writers, I know...)
Software patents hurt everyone (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ironic quote from Aladdin Systems (Score:3, Insightful)
Thus Aladdin took full advantage of the openness of the ZIP format for so long, for compatibility, but used closed formats to keep competitors away for Mac-specific files. It is somewhat ironic, then, that they are complaining about ZIP becoming closed when people have certainly complained in the past about their format being closed.
--Knots;
Re:Use PGP (Score:3, Insightful)
Says who?
Consider piping your PGP output through this:
Is it compressable? Yes. Less secure? No.