@sally Firmware is not software, as socketed ROM is not software, despite being physically replaceable.

My point is that software that comes on hardware is slightly less bad, as you have the right to do as you wish with hardware that you own, very much unlike the no rights you get when it comes proprietary software you download under a proprietary license.

If I remember correctly, there has been previous court rulings that have concluded that operating or reselling hardware you have purchased never infringes patents, due to how the company has given up their control over the hardware by selling it.

Nobody ever applies for a patent over certain machine code, as that would limit the patent to one program - instead they apply for a patent for a general mathematical operation.