The patent laws solve the actual problem of a free market: they give access to a technology to everyone (after a period of time). Something a free market would

The patent laws solve the actual problem of a free market: they give access to a technology to everyone (after a period of time). Something a free market would never agree to because that destroys the advantage of a company. --- start quote --- A patent is a form of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of years in exchange for publishing an enabling public disclosure of the invention. --- end quote ---