> Keep in mind that software patents are only enforceable in the US and Japan. That is sadly untrue. There is a lot of confusion on this front because "softwa

> Keep in mind that software patents are only enforceable in the US and Japan. That is sadly untrue. There is a lot of confusion on this front because "software patents" are a specialized term of art that essentially means 'a patent that describes a procedure with no reference to a machine'. There was a period of time in the US when such patents were enforceable, but more recent cases have mostly changed that (Basically Diamond v Diehr in 1981 to CLS v Alice in 2014). But all this is moot, because patents that apply to the software-implemented functionality of machines are common even without "software patents". I've followed more patents on software cases in _germany_ than anywhere else. You're absolutely right about businesses. The US alone would be enough of a problem, but it isn't even the US alone that is an issue here.