When working correctly, patents allow information that would be a corporate secret to be more openly disclosed. In my career, I've been able to discuss technica

When working correctly, patents allow information that would be a corporate secret to be more openly disclosed. In my career, I've been able to discuss technical details more frankly in blog posts and academic publications because we know that our large, well-funded competitors would not be able to abuse that disclosure to harm our business. The public good here is hard to measure from the other side, as a reader of those blog posts and papers; if it were not for IP protection, I would not willingly endanger my job or business to discuss the technology so openly.