Indeed, many credit the strong U.S. patent system as one of the main reasons the United States is an international leader in technological development. Other technology leaders such as Europe and Japan have similarly strong patent systems - Japan, in fact, modeled its system on the U.S.'s. In theory, patents allow individual inventors to reap the rewards of their risk in time and money spent on invention, and they prevent large, wealthy corporations from sweeping in and laying claim to others' inventions. For everyone else, patents are a double-edged sword. On the other hand, the benefits of a patent system come with a price.
Patents do their work by preventing competition.
That means higher prices for consumers on patented products. You can thank patents for the higher prices. In theory, with a working patent system, the innovation we get outweighs the price of reduced competition. If the system is broken, that equation gets thrown out of whack. Issue too few patents, and innovation is discouraged.