"This money goes to pay the debts of a bankrupt company." Not disputed. Nortel was mismanaged into oblivion. That does not show that the fundamental incentive

"This money goes to pay the debts of a bankrupt company." Not disputed. Nortel was mismanaged into oblivion. That does not show that the fundamental incentive in the patent system is broken. "If the patents ("innovation") were so valuable, Nortel wouldn't have gone out of business." That's a total non sequitur. Any business can be driven off a cliff. The patents are that valuable and that's been clearly shown at auction. "Given those facts, the case for patents as a way to "reward" innovation is thin." Your "facts" are better termed anecdotes and only disprove the straw men that "you can't be successful without patents" and "patents guarantee success" neither of which is being claimed by anyone.