The Silk Road was opened in the Han Dynasty. The main commodities were silk and ceramics. Silk was unique to our country. The bugs the Romans stole were cocoons. Although they said they stole bugs, they actually stole technology. Unique technology. If foreign countries have the technology, they will produce it themselves, and the silk of the Han Dynasty will not be sold, and the economy will naturally be affected.
At that time, Roman nobles wore silk clothes to show their dignity. A piece of silk is worth more than gold. At that time, the Han Dynasty made a lot of money every year from exporting silk, filling the national treasury. The Romans said that the stolen bugs were actually the technology used to make silk at that time. The Romans used the stolen manufacturing technology and after some years of improvement, they were able to produce silk themselves. At that time, the Roman people could no longer buy silk from the Han Dynasty at that time, and could sell silk to other neighboring countries. As a result, my country's silk trade suffered serious losses.
Patented technology is not only very important in modern society, it is still very important in the world at that time. Just imagine that the four great inventions of ancient my country: papermaking, gunpowder, movable type printing, and the compass were not all ours at that time. Is it a national patent? Without these technologies that are ahead of others, how could my country achieve its status as one of the four ancient civilizations? In ancient times, China has always been one of the most advanced countries in the world, which shows the importance of patented technology. Therefore, the Han Dynasty did not protect the patented technology of silk manufacturing, and the Romans learned this technology, causing the country to lose hundreds of billions.
The same is true in today's world. Technology confidentiality, technology blockade, patent fees, and intellectual property protection are all about protecting one's own interests or obtaining greater benefits.