In the old "pre 2000" day, the objective of most technology companies when they applied for patent protection was to ensure that their products and technologies were not copied by their competitors. The idea was that thanks to the patents you enjoyed about 20 years of exclusive use of your technology, after which everyone was free to use it because by then it was considered obvious. If the technology became too commonplace for you to exploit alone you could always allow you competitors to use it against payment: that's licensing. These patents were supposed to allow companies to make back the money invested in technological innovation
What is the issue with technology patents?