Subject: Earthlink Patent

From: "pittmanr99" <pittmanr99@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 09:04:32 -0000

I've done a little research in the patent office, and found something 
interesting about the Mailstation...

The Mailstation "Desktop Email Terminal" is covered under U.S. Patent 
number 6,697,942. I've read the patent, and it seems to me that the 
best way to reflash the device lies in breaking the ClipMail security 
key it uses to verify the messages.

Once the machine sees a valid key, it will update the flash using an 
attached file.  If the security key verification process could be 
reverse-engineered, maybe valid keys could be generated.

The patent mentions DES, but it may be encrypted using some other 
algorithm. I have no expertise in encryption/decryption, so I have no 
idea of how to go about breaking it. Maybe it's worth pursuing, 
though.

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 08:53:19 -0700

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week08/OG/html/1279-4/US06697942-20040224.html

or

http://tinyurl.com/3uwwb

is the patent. I wonder if this is relevant to the Yahoo message functions?

Neil

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pittmanr99" <pittmanr99@...>

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 09:32:05 -0700

> idea of how to go about breaking it. Maybe it's worth pursuing, 

As a programmer the typical policy is not do any patent searches.

a) I don't know much about patents anyway -- which ones will hold up in
court and which won't? Just about all tech patents are granted after
enough changes. It doesn't mean that the patent isn't invalid for
various reasons (prior art, etc.)
b) I can't afford to pay a real lawyer to do a search for every idea I
think of implementing
c) If I was sued for infringement and the plaintiff won, and I knowingly
infringed the patent, I would be liable for triple damages.

As far as legal issues here, you are more likely to run afoul of the
DMCA for trafficking in an illegal circumvention device for producing
code that breaks the encryption.

So if you are planning on going that route, you are clearly into
violation of law which is a whole other matter than patent infringement.

On copyright issues, which CJ brought up: whether a (C) notice appears
in firmware doesn't really matter. I'd warrant most binary software does
not embed a (C) string anywhere.

According to the Berne Convention, as soon as a work is fixed in a
tangible medium it is automatically protected by copyright. The only
thing that gives you a right to make copies/ redistribute it is a
license. None of us have such a license.

-- John.

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From: "pittmanr99" <pittmanr99@...>
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 04:40:59 -0000

--- In [email-masked], "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@p...> 
> license. None of us have such a license.

Your points about the DMCA, patents, and copyrights are well taken. I 
hadn't even thought about the DMCA.

The security key I mentioned in my earlier message might prevent any 
change to the machine no matter how it's introduced. I hope it 
doesn't affect the parallel port, because that seems to be the only 
viable method for changing the flash without using cryptography. I'm 
afraid, though, that any software modification could potentially 
violate the law.

I hope I'm not heading toward a legal brick wall by trying to add 
functionality to the Mailstation. It would be a shame to let such a 
portable machine languish on just email.