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Something proprietary is something exclusively owned by someone, often with connotations that it is exclusive and cannot be used by other parties without negotiations. It may specifically mean that something is covered by one or more patents, as in proprietary technology. It can also mean that the copyright is used in a way that restricts the users' freedoms.1 Etymology
The word proprietary comes from the French proprietaire, from the Latin proprietarius. Compare with the Latin proprietas, property, and proprius, owned.
2 Proprietary software
Closed-source material is proprietary software which means, fundamentally, that you do not control what it does and for users it means they cannot study the source code, or edit it. This is according to Richard Stallman, who is the leading figure in the promotion of free software projects such as GNU.
Proprietary software, or non-free software is currently the most globalised industry. For example Microsoft and Windows which dominate their markets around the world.
Intellectual propertyIn law, intellectual property is a form of legal entitlement which allows its holder to control the use of certain intangible ideas and expressions. The term intellectual property reflects the fact that once established, such entitlements are generally tr
