Have you actually read any patents? Just knowing the bare basics of how something works isn't enough to make a successful business out of it. Even with mechanical manufactured stuff, a few diagrams isn't going to tell you all the stuff you really need to know to properly manufacture it, and patents have famously left out lots of important trade secrets, not to mention stuff that people just didn't bother writing down.
>into complex chip design
Do you have any idea all the technology and tools that go into chip design? They aren't all nicely documented in some patent applications.
>when your competitor could just pay your lead engineer half of your 9 figure R&D budget to completely replicate the process
Good luck with that. No single engineer knows enough to replicate any truly complex process.
>I'd love if this work could be done by universities or publicly funded because it so obviously benefits the greater good
If you could pay a single engineer to do anything so substantial as you claim, then all this work would be done by universities. It isn't, for a reason.
The incentive that companies have to pour resources into this stuff is to make money, and they do this by building their technology base and market share. Not having patents isn't going to make much difference; it'll just prevent them from keeping new competitors out of the market so easily.
>into complex chip design
Do you have any idea all the technology and tools that go into chip design? They aren't all nicely documented in some patent applications.
>when your competitor could just pay your lead engineer half of your 9 figure R&D budget to completely replicate the process
Good luck with that. No single engineer knows enough to replicate any truly complex process.
>I'd love if this work could be done by universities or publicly funded because it so obviously benefits the greater good
If you could pay a single engineer to do anything so substantial as you claim, then all this work would be done by universities. It isn't, for a reason.
The incentive that companies have to pour resources into this stuff is to make money, and they do this by building their technology base and market share. Not having patents isn't going to make much difference; it'll just prevent them from keeping new competitors out of the market so easily.