This isn't a new problem. There's a very good example of intellectual property retarding socioeconomic development in the industrial history of the steam engine.
Early steam engine development was a collaborative endeavor, with various engineers building on the ideas of others to make incremental improvements in steam technology. Then came Bolton and Watt, who used patents to stop the development of steam engines superior to their own products.
The Bolton and Watt patents prevented the development of steam railway engines, and in so doing delayed the beginning of the railway era--and all the societal development it created--by twenty years or more.
Intellectual property law is a gift to monopolists. It is not a social good.
Early steam engine development was a collaborative endeavor, with various engineers building on the ideas of others to make incremental improvements in steam technology. Then came Bolton and Watt, who used patents to stop the development of steam engines superior to their own products.
The Bolton and Watt patents prevented the development of steam railway engines, and in so doing delayed the beginning of the railway era--and all the societal development it created--by twenty years or more.
Intellectual property law is a gift to monopolists. It is not a social good.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_steam_engine