This is from Wikipedia, but is consistent with language I have seen elsewhere:<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br></span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; "><i>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.</i></span></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">So research is not excluded. </span></i></span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">- Wes<br>
</span></i></span></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br></span></font></div><div><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 3:59 PM, David Doria <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:daviddoria%2Bvtk@gmail.com">daviddoria+vtk@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im">On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Bill Lorensen <<a href="mailto:bill.lorensen@gmail.com">bill.lorensen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> David,<br>
><br>
> According to wikipedia:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-invariant_feature_transform" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-invariant_feature_transform</a><br>
><br>
> "The algorithm is patented in the US; the owner is the University of<br>
> British Columbia.".<br>
><br>
> If this is true then we cannot include it in VTK or ITK.<br>
><br>
> And you should be careful how you use it in your own work. You may be<br>
> violating the patent.<br>
><br>
> Bill<br>
<br>
</div>I thought that was the case about I/VTK.<br>
<br>
However, what about the VJ?<br>
<br>
I suppose I need a crash course in patent law, but am I really not<br>
allowed to even use it in my own work? Surely people have published<br>
papers saying "we then use SIFT to blah blah", right?<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
David<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Powered by <a href="http://www.kitware.com" target="_blank">www.kitware.com</a><br>
<br>
Visit other Kitware open-source projects at <a href="http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html" target="_blank">http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html</a><br>
<br>
Please keep messages on-topic and check the VTK FAQ at: <a href="http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK_FAQ" target="_blank">http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK_FAQ</a><br>
<br>
Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:<br>
<a href="http://www.vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers" target="_blank">http://www.vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Wesley D. Turner, Ph.D.<br>Kitware, Inc.<br>Technical Leader<br>28 Corporate Drive<br>Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662<br>Phone: 518-881-4920<br>
</div></div>