The patent system was introduced to solve the latter problem: By openly specifying a solution to a problem, more people could benefit from that solution. Combin

The patent system was introduced to solve the latter problem: By openly specifying a solution to a problem, more people could benefit from that solution. Combine that with a period of time where only the original inventor is allowed to benefit and you catch two birds with one stone: - invention is incentivised as people can expect to be protected for a period of time to get their investment back - to do so, they have to share their inventions with the world which then can use it at a later point. The problem today is that the period of protection is much longer than necessary and sensible given the speed of innovation. Just a few decades ago, waiting ten or twenty years for a patent to run out was much preferable to spending ten, twenty or fifty years trying to solve the original problem yourself. The patent system is not the problem, its parameters are.