[Insight-users] Re: Patented algorithms in ITK?

[Luis Ibanez]

Hi Tobias,

The current status of patented algorithms in ITK is that
those algorithms that are known to be patented have been
isolated in a directories marked as "Patented".

These directories only get build if you turn on the CMake
option "ITK_USE_PATENTED".

As soon as you do that, you are infringing the rights of
the patent holder, unless you have negotiated a license
with the holder.

Patented algorithms are undesirable in an Open Source
toolkit like ITK. We should do our best for getting rid
of the current Patented algorithm and to make sure that
the toolkit doesn't continued to get infected with such
type of code.

Algorithm developers whether they are in the Academic or
Commercial setting will have to make their minds as to
whether they want to Patent and charge for rights of use,
or they want to share for free with the imaging community.

Those who play the double-mind game of pretending to be nice
by sharing, but at the same time patenting their algorithms
in order to get profits from intellectual property should
have to re-examine their motivations. It is my personal view
that if an institution patent an algorithm and then it put
it in an open source library, they should be charged for
"advertising" since they are using the popularity of Open
Source as a mechanism for popularizing their algorithms so
they can charge for them later on.

The sad reality of Algorithm Patents is that nobody gets
rich with them. They only persuade people of not using
the technology. The intellectual property system is simply
getting to ridiculous extremes of patenting the obvious.
When academic institutions pursue patents for algorithms
they do it mostly with the intention of adding that to
their annual activity report, that should sound something
like:

    "This year our group
     a) published 45 papers in peer-review journals
     b) published 67 papers in peer-review conferences
     c) get awarded 12 patents
     d) applied for 27 patents
    "


This is how delusional the current system for evaluating
academic productivity has become. Of course, the reason
is that this is the kind of annual report that a manager
could be able to read without having any idea of what the
group is actually doing. This report could equally well be
produced by a group doing stem cell research that by a group
doing compiler optimization.

Whether any of those papers or patents provide any significant
contribution to society or to scientific advancement is not even
considered to be a relevant question. That is supposedly covered
by the infallible ethereal properties of the "peer-review" system.


....


VTK has recently succeeded to get rid of all its Patented classes.
It will be great if we manage to bring ITK to the same state.



   Regards,



      Luis



-------------------
Tobias Heimann wrote:
> Hi Luis,
> 
> What's the current status regarding including patented algorithms in ITK?
> The Wiki says it's not possible because patents and the ITK license 
> don't fit together, yet there is a growing amount of algorithms in the 
> Patented directory...
> The matter is that I would like to integrate my 3D Active Shape Model 
> construction into ITK, but in our department we are still thinking about 
> patenting it for commercial applications. Is that a problem for the ITK 
> integration?
> 
> Best wishes,
> Tobias
>