First of all what is a patent? Well according to the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Offices website:
"The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the
statute and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from
making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the
United States or "im****ting" the invention into the United States.
What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or
im****t, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering
for sale, selling or im****ting the invention." (http://www.uspto.gov/
web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#patent)
Thus, to answer the question I begin with, a patent is purely an
instrument of monopolization. Contrary to what most people believe,
patents do not protect people's ideas. They only serve to give patent
holders, whomever they may be, the privilege of being the exclusive
manufacturers of certain products and technologies. Why is this a
problem? Well it explains why prices are so high, why our economy is
dominated by large monopolistic businesses and why most people depend
entirely on jobs and job benefits because they have no means of
employing themselves.
In a truly free market, there are no monopolies on production. All
manufacturers are free to make whatever products they want regardless
if who originally developed them. They are also free to apply their
own ideas to existing products thereby maximizing innovation.
Competition between multitudes of nonexclusive and independent
manufacturers keeps wholesale prices low and fairly consistent which,
in turn, gives small retailers more op****tunities to make money. This
benefits families and individuals the most. Ultimately, the freedom of
the people is directly pro****tional to the freedom of productivity in
the market.
In order to give patent holders exclusive rights over production, the
law must necessarily deny it from everyone else. And that is patently
unjust.
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