Dear Prudence: Do I have to pay for codes??

["William J. Kammerer" <wkammerer@foresightcorp.com>]

Dave Welsh is "trying to understand if ebXML is based on freely
available specifications and this is a global process where CEFACT today
promotes public domain - then why do we all have to keep accepting a
practice of charging for codes ? That again seems to be yet an extra
hurdle for the SME to jump over?"

I earlier gave an example of health care diagnosis codes, and in this
case I was actually wrong - the ICD-9 Diagnosis code used throughout the
U.S. is free.  But there are some that have to be licensed, like the
ADA's CDT Dental Procedural code.  Maybe this is a racket - but how do
you expect to have software sold to Dental practices without using the
standard procedure codes?   If you want the complete database of codes
in your product for convenience to your customer (say, in a pick list),
then you may have licensing considerations.

Perhaps a more familiar example would be the SCAC (Standard Carrier
Alpha Code) from the NMFTA.  If you include a complete directory of the
SCAC codes in your product, you might need a license (in addition to the
cost of the CD-Rom directory) from the NMFTA.  But only very specialized
transportation applications would need that - most EDI or ebXML users
only need the SCAC codes of the few carriers they deal with - and you
don't need a license to use or transmit those codes. And you don't even
have to buy a paper directory from the NMFTA - simply ask your carriers
what their SCACs are.

But all this has nothing in particular to do with ebXML, nor even with
EDI - it's perfectly permissible to transmit instances of any code in
messages without paying rent.

William J. Kammerer
FORESIGHT Corp.
4950 Blazer Pkwy.
Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
+1 614 791-1600

Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
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