The Sugru story
Imagine if patents had been eliminated.  They would have died once a big company like 3M got a sample back to their lab.<p>This company exists because they were able to patent their invention.<p>People say that patents are bad because everything relies on previous efforts.  Well, they didn't invent silicon rubber. They didn't invent the volatile compound that allows their rubber to cure overnight.  But they did invent a new thing.<p>Pretty analogous to software patents and combinations software-hardware patents like the iPhone's multi-touch.