Correction from 10/9/2019: I thought the patent had expired this year, due to the confusion on the Priority Date vs. Filing Date. The patent is still in effect, and is set to expire March of 2020.
As of March 7th of next year, the SIFT patent will expire in the U.S.
U.S. patents are valid for 20 years from the earliest filing date, but can be extended to 21 years if a Priority Date is used, and SIFT (US6711293B1) was filed (with priority) on 1999-03-08.
This means that usage of the SIFT algorithm will soon no longer requires a license for use.
19
What are you saying???
1999-03-08
Priority to US12336999P
2000-03-06
Application filed by University of British Columbia
2000-03-06
Assigned to BRITISH COLUMBIA, UNIVERSITY OF, THE
2000-03-06
Priority to US09/519,893
2004-03-23
Publication of US6711293B1
2004-03-23
Application granted
2011-06-22
Assigned to THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
2011-06-22
Assigned to THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
2019-10-08
Application status is Active
2020-03-06
Anticipated expiration
I miscounted the dates; I was using the Priority Date, but turns out one needs to use the Filing Date. Thanks for pointing it out (article redacted).