Does the patent limit use?

[charlesrwest]

Hello!

This looks like an awesome open source library. If I may ask, can I use it for commercial projects or does the patent open me to getting sued if I do?

Thanks!

[searchivarius]

Which patent specifically?

[charlesrwest]

"The update algorithm supported in this repository is to be published in "Dynamic Updates For HNSW, Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graphs" US Patent 15/929,802 by Apoorv Sharma, Abhishek Tayal and Yury Malkov."

Are you likely to be sued if you use this in your software?

[apoorv-sharma]

To address your concern, the patent "Dynamic Updates For HNSW, Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graphs" (US Patent 15/929,802) is currently an open patent and we are waiting for notification for the approval. There’s absolutely no need to worry about legal issues or potential lawsuits. You’re free to use the library in your commercial projects without any concern.

[searchivarius]

@apoorv-sharma thank you for clarifying: could you post a link to the patent?

[xwt1]

Hello!
Thanks for awsome work! Could you please give reference to the patent "Dynamic Updates For HNSW, Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graphs"? I really want to cite it. @apoorv-sharma

[apoorv-sharma]

The patent titled "Dynamic Updates for HNSW, Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graphs" (US Patent Application 15/929,802) is currently pending approval. Yury and I filed this patent a few years ago, and we are awaiting notification of its approval.

In the meantime, our legal team advised us that you may reference the following details for citation purposes: Dynamic Updates for HNSW, US Patent Application 15/929,802.

[kiplingw]

I wasn't able to find the application with USPTO. Was anyone else able to have better luck?

[yurymalkov]

Hello. We checked with the company who helped filed the patent - it turns out the patent application was abandoned by Twitter in February 2023, some time after Musk bought the company (cost cutting, I guess).
So there is no patent. The code contribution under Apache 2.0 was approved by Twitter, so it is hard to imagine any restrictions on the use (apart from Apache 2.0).