Patents have an important role in some industries, e.g. pharma. Not that I'm a fan of the industry but without patents, developing a drug over 10+ years would m

Patents have an important role in some industries, e.g. pharma. Not that I'm a fan of the industry but without patents, developing a drug over 10+ years would make no sense as anyone could copy it immediately after its release. Same for product design. Why hire designers and engineers if you can just copy a competitor?