The concept of the patent office is a genuine one if too idealistic. Having been through the process it did feel like they pushed back for revisions with the sole intention of squeezing some more money out of the filer. Perhaps like insurance companies rejecting every claim initially.
The protection it affords is questionable. It's really just a 1st place ribbon you can bring to court if you have the money to sue somebody copying you... A lot of that is glorified brand warfare: if you're too similar to WD40 they'll sue you regardless of what's in your can.
Though originally encouraged to be layman friendly it now strongly uses overly technical jargon to obscure the invention while still legally protecting it.
That said, it holds a lot of collective knowledge that us nerd types can reference when innovating. Otherwise that knowledge is locked up in private corporate data stores or college curriculums. It's the original open source repo. It eeks out a win in the big picture despite the abuses capitalism inflicts on it.
Our son's public elementary school gave no leeway about letting him walk 4 blocks after school. In the mornings they couldn't prove where he'd walked in from but after class they could only release him to an adult they had on their list... Nobody walked home from that school. I assumed it was insurance bullshit, but I also read stories about police being called by nosy neighbors for kids playing unattended in their yards.
As a 90s latch key kid I don't get this modern American hysteria. I'm sure kidnapping/assault stats are better than they ever were in decades past.. yet its less socially acceptable than ever to let a kid have any independence.