From: Akimichi Tatsukawa <akimichi_tatsukawa@...>
Date: 2007-04-05T21:00:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby-HL7 0.1.23

Hello, Mark
Thank you for a kind reply.

On Thu, 5 Apr 2007 11:50:18 +0900
Mark Guzman <segfault@hasno.info> wrote:

> Akimichi Tatsukawa wrote:
> > Mark Guzman wrote:
> >   
> >> I've finally wrapped up some tasks and released Ruby-HL7. This is the
> >> first public release.
> >>     
> >
> > Hello, congratulation on your work.
> >
> > In Japan, I am developing HL7 messaging engine plugin for rails,
> > and planning to release it.
> > But, I met an obstacle.
> > Since I am an individual member of the Japanese HL7 organization,
> > I asked the office if I could release it under GPL license.
> > But, they said that the protocol specification documents are
> > the intellectual property of HL7,
> > and they were reluctant to give me a clear answer.
> > So, I hesitate about the release.
> >
> > How do you deal with that license matter in U.S. ?
> > Your advice will be much appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Aki
> >
> >   
> Aki,
>   I developed this independently, based on prior knowledge. In your 
> case, I'd suggest citing the existing GPL hl7 libraries. There are 
> libraries available for java, perl and python. My understanding of us IP 
> law  (IANAL) leads me to believe that once someone puts the IP into the 
> public domain it is possible to publish code that does the same thing as 
> it can be claimed that the knowledge came from those sources. I believe 
> GPL'd code would be considered public domain in this case. Good luck 

Thank you for your advice.
Although, I still have a lot of work to do prior to bring it out, 
I'm convinced of that there isn't much problem releasing it. 

> Aki. I'm interested in promoting the usage of ruby in the medical world, 
> so drop me a line if you need or want any help.

I have the same wish as yours, to make use of ruby among medical information systems. 
I hope your project will prevail in this frontier.

>   --mark

Aki,