Z:gnu-www-ja-patent-practice-panel--d6ffb2-The other thing we need to rec/en

The other thing we need to recognize is whether or not the patent system has a preference for users of certain types of software. A patent system as we have in the United States benefits those under a software distribution scheme which allows them to charge royalties. This is because all software has to deal with the risk of infringing on patents. Patents don't discriminate between open-source or freely licensed software and proprietary software: a patent covers certain technology, it doesn't matter how the software's distributed. But proprietary software is licensed with a fee so the cost of that risk can be passed on to the consumer without them recognizing it. They don't see it, it's baked into the price of the software they're buying and if you were to ask a consumer if they've bought insurance against being sued for patent infringement, they would say they don't believe that have.