Case of the Day: Appropriability and Incentives for Innovation
Historical tales invite us to think of inventors as amiable tinkers, toiling away in their garages to produce amazing new inventions to the great benefit of humankind. The stories of these wizards often don’t even mention financial gain: the heroic inventor is depicted as being motivated solely by the thrill of solving a difficult problem. Such individuals undoubtedly existed and there may still be some today: perhaps this characterizes some contributors to open-source software. But most any innovator must think about the possibility of reaping gains from his or her work. For one reason, everyone must earn a living and devoting thousands of hours even to an enjoyable hobby may take time away from gainful employment. For another reason, a successful innovation may lead to millions of dollars of revenue for someone; most innovators probably (and justly) think that they deserve at least some of this reward.
https://www.reed.edu/economics/parker/f10/201/cases/appropriability.html