> I don't understand why it should be a total legal monopoly... You're asking philosophical questions about the patent system. I'm not defending the patent sys

> I don't understand why it should be a total legal monopoly... You're asking philosophical questions about the patent system. I'm not defending the patent system and IANAL. I recommend the wiki article to get an overview [0]. Your phrasing doesn't align with my understanding of patent law or the article's characterization of the situation. > The patent isn't personal property that the company "owns" like how a person owns a house... > But instead we apparently want to say, "no other company should be allowed to make a watch with a pulse oximeter for 20 years unless the company which employed the inventor agrees to it". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent#Effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent#Effects