Most technologies in the status quo are not new inventions – patent system makes it harder for them to be in the marketplace

[Nick Skillicorn, ideatovalue.com chief editor and founder, 8-31-16, Inc., “How the Current Patent System Actually Hurts Inventorsm,” , accessed: 7-11-24, ES]

Most technology nowadays is built on versions which came before it. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that a company will come up with an innovation that itself doesn't rely on other technology which itself has been patented.

For example, if you are developing a new smartphone, a number of the components within it which your company does not manufacture (chips, memory, boards etc) will have patents associated with them and which your product cannot work without. If you try to patent the whole product, you cannot include the technology from the other companies within that.

As a famous example, Android (Google's smartphone operating system) may be royalty-free, Android device makers must pay Microsoft patent royalties of between $5 - $15 per device sold, mounting up to more than $2 billion annually.