[creamyhorror]

"People don't argue that patents are good for consumers because they aren't. People argue about if they're good for inventors and technical progress"

And the point of technical progress is to benefit the public (i.e. consumers) in the long run. So it all comes down to that.

The issue is in the implementation and outcomes. As you say, do inventors only innovate+share when provided with the monetary benefit of a patent? It would probably depend on the field, but I suspect innovation would still occur even with shorter patent protections for software design.