i'm not sure why you say patents aren't supposed to encourage innovation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent. they exist to

i'm not sure why you say patents aren't supposed to encourage innovation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent. they exist to encourage invention by ensuring someone cannot copy your r&d efforts. after all, the purpose of r&d is to innovate and discover. i didn't say patents would be abolished immediately or for all sectors. pharma products, in particular, require hundreds of millions of dollars and cannot get crowdfunded right now. but if we're to ever eliminate patents, crowdfunding will play a central role.