A common bit of knowledge here on HN is that "Ideas are worthless, execution is everything". Most ideas do not occur to just one person at a time... typically d

A common bit of knowledge here on HN is that "Ideas are worthless, execution is everything". Most ideas do not occur to just one person at a time... typically dozens of people and groups are working on the next incremental advance in human knowledge. Patents are awarded to whoever has the most aggressive lawyers, not necessarily who actually had the idea first. Beyond that, most innovation is funded by government grants and universities and should be public domain, not some professors property. And most importantly - patents stop all new further innovation, especially when a company owns many patents in an area. Why do you think there is only 2 airplane companies - Boeing and Airbus? They own all the patents you would need to start a competitor.