I disagree. I'm talking about an inventor talking to a manufacturer (or engineering firm), the manufacturer saying "thanks for the idea, don't mind if we do" an

I disagree. I'm talking about an inventor talking to a manufacturer (or engineering firm), the manufacturer saying "thanks for the idea, don't mind if we do" and then ripping the inventor off and not sharing the profit. That's not competition and it's not good for inventors, because sharing your idea is inherently part of the process of taking it to market. IMO, fair competition comes into play after the inventor has developed their product into something ready for production, otherwise the incentive to invent will disappear. Whether they then deserve a temporary monopoly to recover their development costs is up for debate I guess, but I'm talking about shielding inventors from getting robbed of their ideas.