The original justification for patents at least had some logic to it. In exchange for progressing the state of the art and telling everyone else how your new invention works you get a period of market exclusivity. There was/is the option to not patent ideas and keep them as trade secrets instead, at the risk of others figuring out your idea.

Unfortunately for all of us 20 years is a really long time for exclusivity at our current tech development pace and in no way are patents consumable information for laypeople. The nonsense filings that get granted and all the lawyers involved have turned it into yet another tool only available to the wealthy.

I think that headline has cause and effect backwards. Running out of diesel is what’s causing prices to surge. Hormuz supply has stopped, global oil reserves are being depleted. The supply has been reduced so price will continue to increase until enough of the market can no longer afford to purchase before it hits an equilibrium again. This doesn’t even account for companies taking advantage of the situation and choosing to increase price to capture additional profit.