[api]

That's much worse for tons of reasons. The extreme version of that is a guild system and a bunch of secret societies, which is basically why the ancient world never industrialized. Egypt, Greece, and Rome had the basic knowledge for the industrial revolution (including maybe even electricity, search for Baghdad battery) but it was locked up in cloistered priesthoods who kept it very close to their vest. In many cases leaking such knowledge was punishable by gruesome death.

Offering an alternative to that is why the patent system was created. The idea is you publish and in return get a monopoly for a short period of time. Of course the system is abused (all systems are abused), but the reasons for its creation were actually quite "liberal."