this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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The justification for patents is that after a (relatively) short period of being under patent, because patents have to disclose how inventions work, the idea isn't secret and anyone can use it. The patent system is the whole reason why companies don't and can't hide their inventions anymore. If we just got rid of the patent system wholesale, they'd go back to keeping things secret. That might be a big problem, or it might mean that, because anything that's been reverse-engineered would be fair game, more things end up available sooner, depending on whether companies can obfuscate things well enough that it takes longer for a hobbyist to figure out than the patent would have to expire.
Most patents for the medical sector are built off public research. Companies make minor changes to the formula to extend patents sometimes what seems indefinitely.
Reverse engineering a physical device at this point is trivial. There is no need. The reality is these are legal tools that slow down or limit innovation so the "inventer" can collect monopoly rent.
Software patents are absolute insanity often describing concepts from several decades ago like they are novel.
The entire patent system is absolute garbage rife with patent trolls gobbling up any small business that dares to exist.
There are so many examples such as the developer of X-plane that spent 1.5 million dollars and three years fighting a single frivolous lawsuit over a software patent.
https://www.x-plane.com/x-world/lawsuit/
The average patent lawsuit, if it goes federal is around $1.5 million and can go as high as $5 millions Patents are a game normal people get eaten up by.
From an ethical standpoint companies exploiting patent laws to overcharge is disgusting and the practice is rampant
https://www.i-mak.org/overpatented/
There really isn't anything positive for the typical person. In fact, quite the opposite. Patents are legal tools corporations use to extract monopoly rent. The rest is just propaganda.