Which is to say, market dominance has transformed products into utilities in the past.

You can argue that should not be the case, but, historically, it very much has been.

There's surely a balance to be struck between incentivising firms to innovate by allowing them to earn profits when they develop a good product and allowing a firms to lock-in economic rents forever.

How you strike that balance is a value judgement about the kind of society you want to live in.