It's true that innovation thrives if shared, but it still would suck for the innovaor without temporary protection. Maybe he gets satisfaction from inventing some fancy stuff, but it doesn't pay the bills if the next day someone in china just make a cheaper copy of the invention and outsell the innovator. It would be even worse if that person in china, not only copy the invention, but made it better.
It's fantastic for us as a consumer because it's cheaper and better of course