Kenneth's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Thank you, Chief Lydia! It turns out that foreign computer code patent protection only lasts for twenty years!"
Lydia nodded, but she didn't seem relieved. Instead, she shifted her tone and continued, "However, even though they can't accuse you of infringing on their code patent, they can still sue you for copyright infringement."
Patent rights and copyright are two different concepts.
Kenneth, because he was applying for patent and copyright licenses for his software, understood these concepts well.
He immediately said, "But the entire framework of this software was written by me, including the programming language!"
Lydia looked at his materials, regretfully saying, "...But this segment of core code does seem identical to theirs."
She picked up the mouse and highlighted that section of code.
