Let me tell a story of a time when this *might* have happened. A friend of
mine came up with an idea for an easily manufactured consumer gizmo that
would distribute many millions of dollars a year in revenue away from the
big long distance companies, particularly AT&T. My wife and I hoped to
capture some of these millions, so we looked into patenting it. Alas, a
patent search revealed that exactly the device in question had been patented
in 1993:
http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/details?patent_number=5425085
The company that got the patent is a small phone-equipment manufacturing
firm that would be perfectly placed to build the device and make a ton of
money. But it's four years later and they haven't. Why not?
I will now speculate recklessly.
I estimate the device could be sold for $80 with a manufacturer's profit of
$10. The average customer that buys this gizmo will save $300 per year on
phone bills, which will cost AT&T about $70 per year. It is worth it for
AT&T to pay the inventor any amount between $10 and $70 per unit to make
this gizmo not be sold. If I had the patent, I'd probably take them up on
it. Millions of dollars, for not working.
Has this actually happened? I don't know. But it could.
--CarlF