[bboygravity]

The Netherlands was the last country in Europe to introduce patent law AFTER Philips stole bulb manufacturing technology from Edison (Philips is now a huge patent holder and actively steals ideas from startups to turn them into patents).

[Cumpiler69]

If you can't innovate, steal.

[arcticbull]

History shows us you copy first to build a foundation, refine and then innovate.

This was Japan's recent-ish narrative arc too, after all.

[idunnoman1222]

This is the proverbial standing on the shoulders of Giants, which we all do every day

[thayne]

If you can't innovate, buy (or steal) someone else's invention, and use a government granted monopoly (i.e. patent) to prevent anyone else from innovating further and making a better version.

Maybe patents provide an incentive to be innovative, but they also create a barrier to innovating on top of technology that is protected by patents.