The primary reason for the original creation of 'letters patent' is to prevent all of human knowledge from being hidden behind trade secrets. We can debate how long, or in what form patents should be granted. There are many inefficiencies in the current system, but granting patents is a useful government endeavor because it requires the party who wishes to receive the patent to publicly disclose their discovery in which they want patented. You should consider this before you throw out patents as a non-useful feature. It is hard to have a conversation about IP in general when Trademarks, Patents, and Copyright vary so highly.