U.S. antitrust laws are designed to prohibit monopolization and encourage competition. Why, then, does the government erect barriers to entry and create monopoly power by granting firms patents?
What will be an ideal response?
Patents are designed to encourage creative activity and promote the development of new technologies. Firms can spend years on research and development in the search for new and better production processes and consumer products. Research and development is costly — many potential new ideas are ultimately not technically feasible or never become commercially successful. If research and development results in a successful product, competing firms can easily copy the product and sell it without incurring the research costs of the firm that developed the product, if patent protection is not granted. Most people would object to this form of "free riding" on equity grounds; but patents also encourage firms to conduct research that leads to social benefits: new technologies result in a higher standard of living for all and a more efficient allocation of society's scarce resources.
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