I think it all boils down to the origin of patents. To understand why patents exist, you need to remove all the crap you hear about "protecting innovation" and start from the beginning. Patents were no more, no less, exclusive, monopoly rights provided by Kingdoms to some of their vassals, usually from the nobility. Patents were not an invention of free trade, there were a tool to prevent free trade, and to prevent newcomers from taking over the established monopoly. They were state ordinances to ensure statu quo and protect the existing, mutual relationship between the King and the company, nothing else.

No matter how you look at it, patents are nothing but a relic of Monarchical times. The system for attribution has changed, but the effect remains the same: companies are in rent-seeking mode when they ask for patents, not in the business of innovation of disruption.