In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
T.S. Lim <Use-Author-Address-Header@[127.1]> wrote:
>Suppose you've created a new algorithm, formula, test, graphical
>display or other statistical innovations. Would you consider patenting
>it? Why? What are the pros and cons? What do professional statistical
>societies have to say about this issue? AFAIK, patenting a statistical
>innovation is not common among statisticians, is it? Comments?
It seems that patenting statistical algorithms is uncommon. We must
hope that it stays that way. In fields such as data compression where
patent madness has taken over, it is now impossible to do anything
without worrying about infringing numerous patents, most of which are
for things that were invented many times before they were patented, by
people who thought they were too simple and obvious to bother
patenting. Even if such patents are invalid, they substantially
impede future research, since getting them invalidated is costly.
Patents may seem like a good idea in theory, but the practice has
become horrible.
Radford Neal
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