Thanks much to all who have replied. Algorithms and software can be and have been patented (at least in the US). It appears that major statistical societies have no explicit guidelines regarding patent (?). Just hope that patenting statistical innovations won't become a new trend. === Online resources: World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.org) United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov) United Kingdom Patent Office (http://www.patent.gov.uk) === Christopher Tong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> recommends reading these articles (written by a lawyer): W.M. Borchard. 2000. "Do you need to patent it?" Industrial Physicist, Aug. 2000, pp. 26-27. W.M. Borchard. 2000. "Should you copyright it?" Industrial Physicist, Dec. 2000, pp. 31-33. === Excerpts from WIPO web site: About Intellectual Property Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs. Complete reading: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY READING MATERIAL WIPO Publication No.476(E) http://www.wipo.org/about-ip/en/iprm/index.htm Q: What is a patent? A: A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. Q: What kinds of inventions can be protected? A: An invention must, in general, fulfill the following conditions to be protected by a patent. It must be of practical use; it must show an element of novelty, that is, some new characteristic which is not known in the body of existing knowledge in its technical field. This body of existing knowledge is called "prior art". The invention must show an inventive step which could not be deduced by a person with average knowledge of the technical field. Finally, its subject matter must be accepted as "patentable" under law. In many countries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or animal varieties, discoveries of natural substances, commercial methods, or methods for medical treatment (as opposed to medical products) are generally not patentable. === Excerpts from statistical societies ethical guidelines: International Statistical Institute (http://www.cbs.nl/isi/ethics.htm) "... A principle of all scientific work is that it should be open to scrutiny, assessment and possible validation by fellow scientists. Particular attention should be given to this principle when using computer software packages for analysis by providing as much detail as possible. Any perceived advantage of withholding details of techniques or findings, say for competitive reasons, needs to be weighed against the potential disservice of such an action to the advancement of statistical knowledge. ..." American Statistical Association (http://www.amstat.org/profession/ethicalstatistics.html) "... Make new statistical knowledge widely available in order to benefit society at large. (Those who have funded the development of new statistical innovations are entitled to monetary and other rewards for their resulting products, software, or research results.)..." Royal Statistical Society (http://www.rss.org.uk/about/conduct.html) "... Fellows shall uphold the reputation of the Profession and shall seek to improve professional standards through participation in their development, use and enforcement, and shall avoid any action which will adversely affect the good standing of Statistics and Statisticians. ..." === -- T.S. Lim [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.Recursive-Partitioning.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Get paid to write review! http://recursive-partitioning.epinions.com ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================
