To a certain extent yes. This is only true on frequencies allowing digital voice encoding and they technically are still required to publish the working of the codec and how to identify them even if they are patent encumbered and you can't legally resell or distribute something to decode them.

These protections are to ensure the FCC / government are always able to decode amateur transmissions. These aren't protections for the operators themselves.

I completely agree with your sentiments though, the amateur bands should not allow proprietary commercialization.