[RKV]

Clearly innovators do profit - AT&T for instance. Free riders do come along and where they can operate with state protection they can prosper. In the long run don't benefit on the copy cats.

[Pukin Dog]

Didn't say that innovators don't profit, I said it is rare, by comparison with the number of profitable non-innovators that dwarf them.

Examples:

Innovator = IBM (the personal computer); Millions of non-innovators make profits from that invention which are thousands of times a multiple of what IBM makes.

That dynamic is true in every industry. Few can innovate, while almost anyone can profit from the innovations of others.