You wrote that because research costs money, nobody will fund it without patents, completely disregarding the argument that there are other ways to fund research.
I'm writing about what happens, not what I think should happen. I'm not going to try to defend the status quo. I'm for patent reform also. But I can see where some form of patents may be advantageous. But I'm trying to stay out of that discussion. There are people who know far more sides of the story than I do who are in a better position to suggest models of patent reform.