[vtkusers] SIFT legal issues

[Wes Turner]

This is from Wikipedia, but is consistent with language I have seen
elsewhere:

*The rights conveyed by a patent vary country-by-country. For example, in
the United States, a patent covers research, except "purely philosophical"
inquiry. A U.S. patent is infringed by any "making" of the invention, even a
making that goes toward development of a new invention — which may itself
become subject of a patent.*
*
*
*So research is not excluded.  *

*- Wes
*

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 3:59 PM, David Doria
<daviddoria+vtk at gmail.com<daviddoria%2Bvtk at gmail.com>
> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Bill Lorensen <bill.lorensen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > David,
> >
> > According to wikipedia:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-invariant_feature_transform
> >
> >  "The algorithm is patented in the US; the owner is the University of
> > British Columbia.".
> >
> >  If this is true then we cannot include it in VTK or ITK.
> >
> > And you should be careful how you use it in your own work. You may be
> > violating the patent.
> >
> > Bill
>
> I thought that was the case about I/VTK.
>
> However, what about the VJ?
>
> I suppose I need a crash course in patent law, but am I really not
> allowed to even use it in my own work? Surely people have published
> papers saying "we then use SIFT to blah blah", right?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
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-- 
Wesley D. Turner, Ph.D.
Kitware, Inc.
Technical Leader
28 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-881-4920
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