Laws McCullough
writes:
Hello,
I was doing some browsing around on some stuff in the linux
arena and stumbled on to this URL:
http://www.medweb.com/html/dicom_cube.html
It struck me that this was a Cobalt Cube (based on *Linux*) with
some sort of DICOM 3.0 standard (used in medial imaging and related
services) software pieces added in on top of the standard Cobalt
Cube. It also looks like maybe there are some other “plug-ins” that
this company adds in as well.
What struck me, though, was that by the name “DICOM Cube” was
“pat pending”! Huh!?!?!
Can something based on Linux and an open, published standard be
patented? I searched the IBM and USPTO patent databases but they
only cover issued patents (as far as I can tell). Where would one
find out the details of patent applications?
What scares me is whether or not this company is trying to say
that using DICOM standard (or any standard for that matter) on a
Linux box is patentable by them! I have asked a friend and it is
his understanding that DICOM has been implemented on a Linux
platform as far back as 1994 (by groups like UC Davis, CTN, and
OFFIS in Germany).
What gives here? Does anyone else find this somewhat
questionable? In looking around DejaNews and other places, I saw no
references to this being discussed, some I wanted to put it forth
here. Hopefully, this will also bring this topic in general to the
forefront!
Thanks,
Laws