you've created a false dichotomy. the question isn't whether patents could create net public good... depending on the implementation they could. but the curren

you've created a false dichotomy. the question isn't whether patents could create net public good... depending on the implementation they could. but the current system in the US, which it forces on the rest of us via trade agreements, is completely bonkers. this is the fact: the public in countries where copyrights and patents are granted have voluntarily given up their prerogative to copy or implement a work or an invention in return for the public good of dissemination of those ideas (which might otherwise be "locked up"). As with everything else in the US, big corporations have co-opted the system using lobbyists, and public good is harmed by actions such as this. And in the era of the internet, is dissemination and publication as valuable as it was in the past? I would argue that it is not. it would be fascinating to hit the reset switch: delete all IP, patent, and copyright code from the legal system, and see the real effects it's having on the economy. having said that, it's probably too drastic of an action to take all at once given the far-reaching effects it would have. but it's the right direction to move in, for sure.