It certainly is.
But you are saying it like it's a bad thing.
It's not.
It allows someone who comes up with a better way of doing something to benefit from that idea for a period of time.
“But you are saying it like it’s a bad thing.”
I should point out that my argument is that patents are more about property rights than they are about monopoly. By extension you could argue all private property is a monopoly.
You could also say that shooting someone is free speech - you are just “expressing” your displeasure with them. But we don’t call that free speech, we call it murder.
“Monopoly” is more concerned with business practice, than private property. As such, there is some validity to gov stepping in when a business unethically manipulates the market to achieve 100% market share.
However, saying “monopoly” is bad should not be extended to saying “private property” is bad.
In grade school, you probably heard more about those evil robber barons than you did about why we have a patent system.
Propagandizing patent as monopoly is a tool of that wiley socialist to progressively bring you to the conclusion that private property is bad.
Don’t fall for it!