[tbagman]

The compromise that intellectual property strives for is to encourage innovation by rewarding inventors with time-limited exclusive rights in exchange for disclosure. The world gains the knowledge through the disclosure, the inventor gains the opportunity to commercialize and earn rewards through the advantage that time-limited exclusion gives them, and once the IP reverts to the public domain, everybody gets the chance to use the invention.

But, factors like patent sharking, the ridiculous extension of copyright terms, the inability of patent offices to properly assess issues like novelty and obviousness, and so on, make it possible for all parties to abuse this compromise.

I think the spirit of the compromise is valid. I think its implementation today has become flawed, but not irreparably so.