Firstly, I didn't indicate anyone is required to do anything. Secondly, you present a false choice. I innovate with software every day, have published milli

Firstly, I didn't indicate anyone is required to do anything. Secondly, you present a false choice. I innovate with software every day, have published millions of lines of code with almost no restriction on re-use, I certainly "profit" via my employment and donations; I'm just not a billionaire. This inventor is certainly in a great space to get incredible, lucrative job offers via his fame and notoriety. put another way, what if instead of him inventing a novel way for a motor to be enhanced, he instead were a physicist who discovered some new property of physics that basically allowed the same thing to occur? Do scientific discoveries get "patents" that prevent anyone else from making use of that new information for 20 years?