Apple and the like are only worth as much as they are because of intellectual property laws. Without that, you'd have a million iPhone clones (perfect copies, minus the dumb stuff) on the market a few days later and Apple would soon be worthless.
Intellectual property laws is not some natural law of the universe. It only exists because the people (i.e. the general public) want it to exist. They could do away with it on a whim, but choose not to. Which isn't irrational as it may first seem. Their own careers probably rely on the status quo, and their retirement savings no doubt rest on companies like Apple being worth a fortune, so there is a lot of incentive to not rock the boat.
