But if it was not for the patent law that helped and incentivized the inventor, the cotton mill innovation might not occur in the first place. I work for a pha

But if it was not for the patent law that helped and incentivized the inventor, the cotton mill innovation might not occur in the first place. I work for a pharma, and I remembered our CEO discussing patent and generic drugs. Making generics that bring affordable medicine to the public is a very important goal of any pharma. But drug discovery (not manufacturing) is very costly and risky, and patent is the only vehicle to financially recover the cost of developing a new product and fund the effort of finding new cures. I am not taking side in the software patent debate, but am just saying patent has its own value in promoting innovation in making it financially feasible for things that require lots of effort and resources.