Re: [Fwd: AW: UB-Tree's and patents] - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Hi Oleg,

My understanding of patent law (in a generalised way) means that for any
country in which you're granted a patent on something, these days it
effectively means you've got control of the usage of that particular
thing.

So, if Prof. Rudolf Bayer has a patent on the algorithm for UB-Tree's in
the US and Europe, then he gets to say who can and can't use that
algorithm in those countries.

Now, if whoever DOES hold that patent is Open Source friendly we have
nothing to worry about as long as we get permission in writing (assuming
UB-Tree's are something we're implementing at some point).  If they're
NOT Open Source friendly, then there are steps we can take, but they all
cost money of varying amounts.  :-(

If anyone has further info about this kind of thing, that would be
useful.

Also, I've emailed Prof. Bayer yesterday to ask him for more specifics,
so we should hopefully have his response in a day or two.

:-)

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift


Oleg Bartunov wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 6 Apr 2002, Justin Clift wrote:
> 
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > For anyone who's interested in the patent status of UB-Tree's, here is
> > further info.
> >
> > :-)
> 
> I dont' understand that. Does it means someone has no rights to
> implement the algorithm in any form ? Who has patented an idea of
> relational databases ?  Donald Knuth in his "All Questions Answered"
> said "... the word patent means "to make public"
> 
>         Regards,
> 
>         Oleg
> 
> >
> > Regards and best wishes,
> >
> > Justin Clift
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: AW: UB-Tree's and patents
> > Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 17:41:10 +0200
> > From: "Rudolf Bayer" <bayer@in.tum.de>
> > To: "Justin Clift" <justin@postgresql.org>
> > CC: "Christian Roth" <roth@transaction.de>
> >
> > the UB-tree has been patented in Europe (PCT) and the US,
> > both patents have been awarded.
> > the Patent application has been filed in Japan, but processing is not
> > compleatet yet.
> > A first commercial implementation is available in the product
> >       TransBase Hypercube from
> >       TransAction SW GmbH
> > contact Dr. Roth ++49 89 62709 170
> > regards,
> > R. Bayer
> >
> > *********************************************************************
> > Prof. Rudolf Bayer, Ph.D.             Phone:  ++49 89 48095 171
> > Institut fur Informatik                       Fax:    ++49 89 48095 170
> > Technische Universitat Munchen        email:  bayer@in.tum.de
> > Orleansstr. 34                                home:   http://www3.in.tum.de
> > 81667 Munchen
> >
> > > -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
> > > Von: Justin Clift [mailto:justin@postgresql.org]
> > > Gesendet: Dienstag, 2. April 2002 22:08
> > > An: bayer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de; Stefan Reich
> > > Betreff: UB-Tree's and patents
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi Prof. Rudolf,
> > >
> > > There seems to be some confusion in the Open Source software community
> > > as to whether the algorithms/concepts/etc for UB-Tree's are patented or
> > > not.
> > >
> > > Do you know of anywhere we can find information about it's patent
> > > status?
> > >
> > > :-)
> > >
> > > Regards and best wishes,
> > >
> > > Justin Clift
> > >
> > > --
> > > "My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
> > > who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
> > > first group; there was less competition there."
> > >    - Indira Gandhi
> > >
> >
> > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> > TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
> >
> 
>         Regards,
>                 Oleg
> _____________________________________________________________
> Oleg Bartunov, sci.researcher, hostmaster of AstroNet,
> Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow University (Russia)
> Internet: oleg@sai.msu.su, http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/
> phone: +007(095)939-16-83, +007(095)939-23-83

-- 
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."  - Indira Gandhi