> Only the patents that are deployed to the market and valuable will have high carrying costs.
You're assuming that "deployed to the market" means "actually making things that people want." That's sometimes the case, but far from always.
You're probably familiar with the term "non-practicing entities" in the patent world. (They go by other names as well.) Some NPEs are entirely legitimate, e.g., universities and other major research centers that actually do research and discover useful things. Other NPEs, though, are more-vulgarly but aptly known as "patent trolls."
You're assuming that "deployed to the market" means "actually making things that people want." That's sometimes the case, but far from always.
You're probably familiar with the term "non-practicing entities" in the patent world. (They go by other names as well.) Some NPEs are entirely legitimate, e.g., universities and other major research centers that actually do research and discover useful things. Other NPEs, though, are more-vulgarly but aptly known as "patent trolls."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll