There is a common misconception that the fact you cannot patent software techniques in many countries means anything implemented in software is OK. Most well written voice processing patents, for example, do not tie themselves to particular ways of realising the patented concepts. Codecs are implemented both in hardware and in software. In general, the patents which apply to one implementation also apply to all others. Once software is loaded and running in a computer it would rather hard to convince a judge or jury that this device is not doing what the patent says is someone's exclusive right to do. This is true in any country with patent laws.