I think, then, a good web-based community project would be the creation of a whole new set of codes and descriptions. However the codes would happen to map one-to-one with the CPT codes, and the mapping would be created/shared only among those with CPT licenses.
Publications that reference CPT codes could be trivially changed to reference the new codes, and individual practitioners would have no need or use for the mapping table or anything else containing CPT codes. Rod www.sunsetsystems.com On Saturday 09 December 2006 13:18, mspohr wrote: > Copyright covers "expressions" of ideas and as such covers the AMA's > descriptions. Theoretically, if you wrote different descriptions, > they would not be covered by the AMA copyright. However, the AMA has > been very aggressive in defending their monopoly on the codes so they > might threaten a community project. > There is also the issue of the codes themselves. Even though you > can't copyright lists of numbers (codes)... the famous "telephone > directory" case, the AMA might try to claim that they own the numbers > also. > > /Mark > > > --- In openhealth@yahoogroups.com, Rod Roark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > That leads me to ask: does the AMA claim copyright on the CPT codes > > themselves, or just on the descriptions of the codes? If the latter, > > I think there would be a lot of merit in a community project to > > create and maintain new descriptions. I've been told that the AMA's > > descriptions are not very physician-friendly. > > > > Rod > > www.sunsetsystems.com > > > > On Saturday 09 December 2006 10:18, 80n wrote: > > > This reminds me of a similar situation in the UK with postcodes (their > > > equivalent of zip codes). Unlike the US where zip codes are in > the public > > > domain, the British Post Office owns the postcode database and > protects it > > > agressively. > > > > > > An enterprising group of people recently started an initiative at > > > www.FreeThePostcode.org to "reverse engineer" the postcode database by > > > getting people to record their own postcode and geographic > location on the > > > web-site. So far they have not been closed down by the post office. > > > > > > I'm wondering if anything like a similar approach could work with > CPT codes? > > > > > > 80n
