Comment by freejazz

You can't patent something that is already published - and, again, if you are already researching whatever step 2, that is great evidence to invalidate the step 2 patent made by another company. So, again, your scenario is highly specific, and also made up in that it is some hypothetical that exists in your mind and you are not pointing to any actual patents or examples of this happening that we could discuss with any specificity.

>Yes, but not all companies want to exclude. Some even want to share their work openly as they proceed. But even sharing openly and creating prior art as you go is not safe.

That's great, patents are publicly available documents. So patentees can feel free to share!

>For those companies, "what is the point of a patent if not to enforce the right of exclusivity it grants" -> the point is not to enforce exclusivity over anyone, because they don't want to. It's to use the granted rights as defensive leverage so they can continue developing, publishing and using their own work.

You're just making some semantic point for a reason I cannot understand. Patents only give the right of exclusion, what a patentee does with that right is up to them... They can trade on it, use it to bargain, give it up, whatever.