There are still reclusive tinkering inventors today who need to make a living!
It's very hard to otherwise compete with an established company who can copy your brilliant idea, scale, and distribute it way faster and more cheaply than you can.
It's very hard to otherwise compete with an established company who can copy your brilliant idea, scale, and distribute it way faster and more cheaply than you can.
But assume s/he did afford one.
Now comes the theft. Amazon steals it, and now our tinkerer needs to cough up millions of dollars to go after a one-trillion dollar company. It lingers in courts for decades. Even pro-bono legal advice would eventually give up. Futile.
Patents exist only for companies to wage war for monopolies.
Let's also not forget the broader context here, which is software patents.
It’s not true that you will always need to put up the money yourself. If the patent is sufficiently valuable you can enter into joint ventures, or contingency agreements to have someone else bankroll the fight.
Having a large company infringe on a patent also makes it a desirable purchase for any other company with a bone to pick with the infringer.
"It’s not true that you will always need to put up the money yourself."
I don't believe this was my argument. I simply said "capital".