I think this confuses patents with trade secrets. You only patent something that’s easy to observe and copy, and the patent is a public record that you have som

I think this confuses patents with trade secrets. You only patent something that’s easy to observe and copy, and the patent is a public record that you have some temporary exclusive rights to the invention (well at least in theory. The world of software patents is warped to the point where the motivation to hold patents is mostly defensive against litigation). If another country doesn’t respect your patents, they do nothing. If you can keep something secret, you don’t need or want a patent (which creates a public record). There’s no patent for the Coca-Cola recipe. And this is also a situation where espionage is useful.