It seems we could solve this by adding some conditions around lifetime and protections offered by a patent. if you are a small company you are afforded maximum protections on your patent. If you're large scale company that has delivered products based on features you've patented, your patent stops being valid after 3 or 4 years. If you aren't actively trying to develop or sell a product based on a patented feature, the lifetime of the patent also is significantly reduced.