”At the end of the day, there may be a way here to bypass the law's exclusion of software patents.“Here is a random thought. Think about this for a moment. If someone in a country where software patents are illegal buys SUSE and pays Novell, which in turn passes royalties to Microsoft for patents, then Microsoft essentially defeats foreign patents systems and manages to collect fees (the so-called 'Linux tax') which it does not deserve. By association, and using various other means, this so-called 'Linux tax' can also be passed on from one distribution to another. Of course, there are other serious issues. At the end of the day, there may be a way here to bypass the law's exclusion of software patents.⬆