I actually believe the exact opposite.

That so many useful innovations are lost & forgotten, because there was no incentive to market & distribute the innovation.

It is lost on many, that the usefulness of an idea does not guarantee it's popularity. It is very, very hard to get visibility & traction for even the most useful of inventions.

Protections on ownership & wealth create the incentives to invest in creating new innovations, but also to productise, distribute and market those innovations.

It is only a small fraction of products that can exist without the proper incentives to build out the whole chain from idea to r&d, productisation, to distribution & marketing.