The direct reason is the result of the survival competition in western European countries, encouraging their own people to actively contribute to inventions and attracting inventors to develop in their own countries with a better policy environment. The embryonic form of patent law first appeared in Venice, and then developed by leaps and bounds in Britain, Germany and France.
At first, it did encourage innovation, but gradually people realized the disadvantages of patent monopoly and infringed on public interests, so that many countries abolished the patent system, and some even lasted for half a century.
Later, legislators finally found a balanced way, that is, if they want to obtain a patent right, they must make it public, and established the principle of exchanging publicity for protection, which not only enabled the patentee to obtain a certain monopoly right, but also made the public know the information of patented technology. The balance between private rights and public rights also promotes the progress of science and technology. However, the drawbacks of the patent system itself have continued to this day and are still being improved.
Of course, generally speaking, the advantages of the patent system far outweigh the disadvantages, especially it respects the achievements of human intellectual labor, is conducive to the creation, dissemination, inheritance and accumulation of technology, and is an important institutional guarantee for the scientific and technological revolution and knowledge economy.