nostr:npub1ahf0ph0eyscw28qf2ursd2q2lcr9zwze3l5yenn93mamhdgv3vvqjvjdrc

You're not wrong, and it is most certainly a forced monopoly (my essay I wrote a while back at https://notageni.us/ip).

The key is that it's supposed to be a *temporary* monopoly, which gives freedom for the idea-maker to build meaningful things with what they discovered.

THAT breaks down in 2 ways:

1. It's often not temporary (e.g., Disney keeps extending copyright to forever minus a day).

2. Instead of helping creators, IP can suppress competition (e.g., patent trolls).