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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kurotowa" data-source="post: 2129211" data-attributes="member: 27957">Absolutely not, as the setting is presented.  Patents were a way to break the hold of the guilds, who had power by keeping all their inventions tightly held secrets within the guild.  That's where trade secrets come from, secrets that the tradesmen defended from outsiders in order to protect their station.  Patents do grant temporary state protected monopolies.  But they also force you to make the details public, where others can learn and advance them, and after a short period the invention enters the public domain where everyone can use it.  By forcing the guilds the release their secrets or receive no protection at all, their grip on technology was shaken off.In Eberron, the Dragonmarked Houses ARE guilds in all but name.  Factions of tradesmen with private technological (or magical) methods they keep secret from outsiders to maintain their power.  Any government trying to push through patents would start a war between that country and all the Houses, as it would be very rightly seen as an attack on their second most important power base.As always, it is possible to alter the setting to include them.  But it advances the social situation several centuries and would have wide ranging impact.</blockquote>