That&#x27;s the latter part &quot;build an open source alternative as good&quot; that might be problematic due to the patent (then again, if it was obvious somebody should have built it BEFORE they did and thus have prior art).<p>But the first part, &quot;because we like&#x2F;want the functionality&quot; still holds whether there&#x27;s a patent or not. If there&#x27;s no alternative, either because nobody bothered, or because the software is patented, then people will still use it, regardless if it&#x27;s proprietary or not.<p>Photoshop, the other example I gave, also has tons of patents, proudly listed on their &quot;About&quot; windows.