Then, you may want to consider any invention as a discovery: the discovery of a mean to some end. Now, mathematics had this debate a long time ago: some viewed

Then, you may want to consider any invention as a discovery: the discovery of a mean to some end. Now, mathematics had this debate a long time ago: some viewed it as something you discover, others viewed it as something you build. Those two philosophies spur different ways of doing mathematics. Those who viewed mathematics as being build, for instance, tended to reject the `∀P ¬¬P = P` principle. Also note that neither side really won the argument. Regarding patents, the two philosophies obviously differ: the discoverers will unconditionally reject patents, while the builders could embrace it. So, for your argument to work, you'd first have to convince everyone that math is indeed discovered.