Wait. Historically, the purpose behind patents was to spur _the theft of other states' property_, not "innovation". The King would grant a patent to whatever fo

Wait. Historically, the purpose behind patents was to spur _the theft of other states' property_, not "innovation". The King would grant a patent to whatever foreign engineer was willing to immigrate with a particular invention or industrial technique that another state was keeping secret (printing presses and coal refining both crossed the English Channel that way). The same language of "patent" was used for early colonial charters, too, because it was the same process: somebody willing to take something from somebody else is granted (some) legal protection by the state that benefits from that taking. Patents were developed as a way to aid piracy, not a way to prevent it.