What economic approach would actually work?

[Fisherking]

How would you define a free market anyway?

Does a free market have patents for example?

Sorry for the long delay but thought there might be a few more opinions on this.

A free market is just an open market where property rights are respected or protected but little regulation in regard to entry (competition among suppliers).

As it protects property rights, patents are a part of that. Now how much protection for how long is another matter. Patents shouldn’t be in perpetuity. They should be for a few years only and not decades upon decades. That in its self stifles innovation and invention.

Just an aside but many inventions seem to occur to multiple individuals at the same time. Sewing Machines, RADAR, and the Television are some of the examples. You could say they were ideas who's time had come.