Patents are the way the government allows the inventor to require compensation. Ideally, that would be how patents are "supposed" to be use: An idea you patent

Patents are the way the government allows the inventor to require compensation. Ideally, that would be how patents are "supposed" to be use: An idea you patent can be used by others in exchange for a royalty fee. In reality, that happens quite a bit, but we also get anti-competitive tech companies who wish to keep advances to themselves, and patent trolls who wait on violations to sue.