In the cases where societally-better replacements are patented—which is a definite minority of cases—governments have rules in place to force companies to license patents to competitors under reasonable terms. Patents only exist because governments enforce them for the sake of overall benefit to society.
In the cases where societally-better replacements are patented—which is a definite minority of cases—governments have rules in place to force companies to license patents to competitors under reasonable terms. Patents only exist because governments enforce them for the sake of overall benefit to society.