the.com/proprietary
the label a company puts on a locked door so you'll stop asking for the key.
means privately owned and controlled, meaning you can use it but you can't see, copy, or fix how it works.
from from latin proprietas, meaning ownership, filtered through legal english for anything a company can sue you over touching.
oppositeopen source, the eat-your-vegetables version
classic exampleapple's charging cables before usb-c law
business tricklock-in disguised as innovation