Z:gnu-www-ja-stallman-mec-india--3023cd-Of course, sometimes a patent/en

Of course, sometimes a patent is so broad that it's impossible to avoid it. Public key encryption is essential for computer users to have privacy. The whole field was patented. That patent expired just four years ago; there could be no free software in the US for public key encryption, until then: many programs, both free and nonfree, were wiped out by the patent holders. And in fact that whole area of computing was held back for more than a decade despite strong interest.