Wrong. Patents are basically just a recipe for how to make a thing work. You get a patent for the recipe, not the idea. If you create a thing different using the same idea, that is OK, and you can write a new patent.

Patents only gives you the right to protect the economic benefits. It has essentially nothing to do with creativity, strangling ir othervise. Though, to get a patent, you have to show that your application has not been made before, and that it's not an obvious use of old technology in a new setting.

The issue is software and software patents. IMO patents is misplaced on software, but so is copyright as well. There should be a special software patent that only applies to software.