&gt; <i>free-riding off somebody else&#x27;s ingenuity is fundamentally unfair</i><p>Ideas are not a rival good.  When you share an idea with someone, you don&#x27;t lose half of it.  You both get the whole idea.  So it&#x27;s not a zero-sum game.<p>As long as the genius gets rewarded, free riding <i>is</i> fair.<p>&gt; <i>How much innovation happens without funding?</i> […] <i>Some ideas are harder to generate (e.g. RSA)</i><p>Well, the best and hardest ideas tend to be state-funded anyway.  RSA for instance was funded by MIT salaries¹ (Rivest, Shadir, and Abelman worked there).  ARPANET (now the internet) was basically a DOD project.<p>You&#x27;re right, inventions need funding.  Patent just aren&#x27;t the only way —nor, I would argue, the most efficient.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;RSA_%28cryptosystem%29#History" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;RSA_%28cryptosystem%29#History</a>