[cloverich]

Good implementations of good ideas are rarely easy to copy, which is why so many acquisitions ask not only to buy the product but the team that made it as well. Moreover the last part of your argument also omits that big companies regularly buy the ideas (patent) meaning idea ownership mostly translates into big co idea ownership. Couple that with trivial ideas being patentable (eg website shopping cart), frivolous lawsuits abound, etc. I think your argument sounds good in theory but in practice leads to the exact detriment it proclaims to protect.

Lastly I think the last part of your argument is less compelling if you view it from the customers angle: you shouldn’t be able to go to a different company just because they can offer something you want (better / cheaper), you should have to stick with whoever came up with it first.