> But why is the big company stealing it? Currently, it makes sense to steal it because the patent protections make it seem as if the idea itself is valuable I

> But why is the big company stealing it? Currently, it makes sense to steal it because the patent protections make it seem as if the idea itself is valuable It makes no sense to steal when the owner is likely to sue you for doing so, thus invalidating all of your work. It is also not a good business practice to steal. > in the world without the patents, what is valuable is the physical implementation, or rather, the coupling of both. You've discounted the value of research.