Alpha-expansion, alpha-beta swaps and patents
Hi everybody. To restart a conversation we had before on SIFT: Do we want patented algorithms in sklearn? I just found out that alpha-expansion and alpha-beta swaps are patented, which makes me very unhappy. What do patents mean: We can implement patented algorithms and distribute them under BSD license. If someone uses the software for commercial purposes, they can be sued by the patent holder. If we choose to include patented algorithms, we can include them with a warning. Then there is no problem in having SIFT or including graph cuts with alpha expansion. Cheers, Andy
Hi Andy On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:31 PM, Andreas Müller <amueller@ais.uni-bonn.de> wrote:
To restart a conversation we had before on SIFT: Do we want patented algorithms in sklearn?
While there's nothing stopping us from implementing patented algorithms, I do not like the implications. It means we have to start advertising to users that there are specific functions that they cannot use without carefully examining the conditions. I'd much prefer for the whole package to be freely usable. I get very unhappy when I see patents on algorithms such as SIFT, built on top of (or at least inspired by) an entire volume of non-patented research. Fortunately, there are often work-arounds--e.g., I believe the STAR (CenSurE) features used in OpenCV (BSD-licensed!) are not patented, and work as well as or better than SIFT. So I suggest we implement that instead: http://pr.willowgarage.com/wiki/Star_Detector Stéfan
participants (2)
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Andreas Müller -
Stéfan van der Walt