<i>it seems possible that innovations that require high initial investment and low ongoing costs (medications, gene patents, etc.) would be produced at a lower rate</i><p>Good point, I don&#x27;t necessarily disagree. But is a lot of the R&amp;D to get around existing patents, rather than build a new thing entirely? In the software world I think we can safely say yes. Regarding medical research I&#x27;m not qualified to say. I&#x27;d love to hear from anyone with some insight.