I heard RMS speak about patents a few years ago, and if I remember correctly (which I probably am not) it was simply that software patents were more important b

I heard RMS speak about patents a few years ago, and if I remember correctly (which I probably am not) it was simply that software patents were more important because more people have the means to write software than they have to build hardware. Thus, innovation is impacted more on software. I believe he also claimed that "hardware patents" and "software patents" are in many ways the same, since one patent can cover both hardware and software. Instead there's a distinction of a software patent being, "a patent which restricts software development."