If you can't innovate, buy (or steal) someone else's invention, and use a government granted monopoly (i.e. patent) to prevent anyone else from innovating furth

If you can't innovate, buy (or steal) someone else's invention, and use a government granted monopoly (i.e. patent) to prevent anyone else from innovating further and making a better version. Maybe patents provide an incentive to be innovative, but they also create a barrier to innovating on top of technology that is protected by patents.