SNOMED CT®
“ Licensing ”
Questions and Answers
14 December 2007
Ted Christiansen

Just to recap…
The International Environment
NHS Australia
(Read Codes) Canada
Denmark
Lithuania
IHTSDO New Zealand
Sweden
The Netherlands
UK
CAP USA
(SNOMED 3.5)
SNOMED CT®

Members
National Release
Extensions Derivatives
Works licensed by Member
(forming part of a Member’s
Other Documents and Software
National Release)
Specifications Derivatives
International Release
Other Documents and Software
(Licensed by IHTSDO)
CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
SNOMED CT® Content:
The terminological content of SNOMED CT®, consisting of concepts,
descriptions and relationships, each of which is identified using a
unique SNOMED CT® Identifier.
The Core:
SNOMED CT® Content that is controlled, maintained and distributed by
the IHTSDO. The IHTSDO has the sole right to modify the Core.
E D
Other
S D
CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Extension:
SNOMED CT® Content that is supplementary to, and dependent upon,
other SNOMED CT® Content (i.e. any SNOMED CT® Content other
than the Core).
An Extension is either a:
• National Extension (if it is owned by a Member) or
• Third Party Extension (if it is owned by an Affiliate).
Derivative:
A work that consists of SNOMED CT® Content
E D
(either from the Core or from an Extension)
Other
plus either additional properties relating to that
SNOMED CT® Content (e.g. a Sub-Set) or a set S D
of relationships with another nomenclature,
classification or knowledge structure (e.g. a
Cross-Map). CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Specifications and Standards:
A Specification is a specification issued by the IHTSDO relating to
SNOMED CT®.
A Standard is a Specification that is formally adopted by the IHTSDO
An Extension or a Derivative is “Standards
Based” if there is a Standard applicable to that E D
kind of Extension or Derivative. Other
S D
CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Licensees
- Members:
Members are not strictly ‘licensees’, but have the rights in respect of
SNOMED CT® that are set out in Schedule 3 to the IHTSDO Articles
of Association.
- Affiliates:
An Affiliate is a licensee of the IHTSDO under a licence agreement
that identifies the licensee as an Affiliate. Not all licensees are
Affiliates, but all Affiliates are licensees. An Affiliate may
be a vendor of products incorporating SNOMED CT® E D
(and may grant sub-licences to End Users so that they Other
can use those products), or may be a user of
S D
SNOMED CT®.
- End Users:
End Users are third parties who are licensed by CORE
Affiliates to use products incorporating SNOMED CT®.

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
The International Release,
consisting of the Core, the IHTSDO’s Specifications and other
documents and software that the IHTSDO includes within the
International Release. The International Release is always licensed
by the IHTSDO, whether distributed on its own or as part of a
Member’s National Release (see below). Members do not sub-
license the International Release.
Members’ National Releases,
consisting of the International Release plus Members’ E D
National Extensions, Members’ Derivatives and other Other
documents and software that Members include within
S D
their National Releases. A Member’s National Release
is licensed by the Member, apart from the International
Release contained within it (which is licensed by the
CORE
IHTSDO).

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Ownership of Extensions and Derivatives
Members
Members own the intellectual property rights in all National
Extensions and Derivatives that they create.
A Member must transfer its intellectual property rights in any
Standards-Based National Extension to the IHTSDO if requested to
do so. Upon the transfer of a National Extension to
the IHTSDO, the SNOMED CT® Content in that
E D
National Extension becomes part of the Core.
Other
The IHTSDO may request that a Member transfer its S D
intellectual property rights in a Standards-Based
Derivative to the IHTSDO, but any such transfer is in
the Member’s sole discretion. CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Affiliates
Under the Affiliate Licence Terms (which cover Third Party
Extensions and Derivatives that an Affiliate creates from the Core):
- Affiliates own the intellectual property rights in all Third Party
Extensions and Derivatives that they create from the Core.
- An Affiliate must transfer its intellectual
property rights in any such Standards-Based
Third Party Extension to the IHTSDO if E D
requested to do so. Other
S D
- The IHTSDO may request that an Affiliate
transfer its intellectual property rights in a
standards-Based Derivative to the IHTSDO, but
CORE
any such transfer is in the Affiliate’s sole
discretion.

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Affiliates, contd
Under a Member’s licence for the Member’s National Release (which
covers Third Party Extensions and Derivatives that an Affiliate creates
from the Member’s National Extensions):
-The Member has the choice of providing that
the:
Affiliate owns the intellectual property rights in all
Standards-Based Third Party Extensions and
E D
Derivatives that it creates from the Member’s
Other
National Extensions,
S D
or
Member owns those intellectual property rights
(but, in the case of Derivatives, the Member’s CORE
ownership requires the agreement of the
Affiliate).

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Affiliates, contd
- If the Member provides that the Affiliate owns those intellectual
property rights, the Member may require the Affiliate to transfer
those intellectual property rights to the Member or directly to the
IHTSDO (but again, in the case of Derivatives, this requires the
agreement of the Affiliate).
- A Member must require (in the case of a Third
Party Extension) or request (in the case of a
Derivative) that an Affiliate transfer its E D
intellectual property rights in a Standards-Based Other
Third Party Extension or Derivative to the
S D
Member or directly to the IHTSDO if the
IHTSDO requests the Member to do so.
CORE

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
Obligations:
New Zealand (MoH):
- One member, UN, Endorsed, abide by the Articles
- Register of Licences issued
- Grant licences
- ‘Other’
Licence holder:
- Not grant rights to International Release
- Namespace Identifier
- rules about IP transfer
- ‘Other’

IHTSDO – GUIDE TO SNOMED CT® LICENSING
IP recognition: the following notice goes on all media on
which the National Release is distributed.
Notice:
“This material includes SNOMED Clinical Terms®
(SNOMED CT®) which is used by permission of the
International Health Terminology Standards Development
Organisation (IHTSDO). All rights reserved. SNOMED
CT®, was originally created by The College of American
Pathologists. “SNOMED” and “SNOMED CT” are
registered trademarks of the IHTSDO.”

Web references
Ministry of Health (NZHIS - NZ Health Information Service):
http://www.nzhis.govt.nz/moh.nsf
Contact email:
SNOMED_CT@nzhis.govt.nz
IHTSDO:
http://www.ihtsdo.org/