it doesn't really make sense under the model where patents exist solely to incentivize private investment. I don't think that necessarily makes it absurd; at le

it doesn't really make sense under the model where patents exist solely to incentivize private investment. I don't think that necessarily makes it absurd; at least, I can envision cases where the government owning a patent could ultimately serve the public good. suppose the government spends a large amount of public funds on research that turns out to have a very narrow commercial application. if the findings can be freely used by a couple niche companies, it's effectively a subsidy to them. not necessarily a bad thing, but we might want the government to be more intentional about granting subsidies. if instead the companies have to negotiate a license, the government can recoup some of the public's money and allocate it to more research.