The IP I'd say is the core of the problem.

There are only so many way ways to skin a cat (in nuts and bolts engineering). When constrained by physics, everyone is going to converge on the same fundamental designs. You therefore have two or three options. Take or leave the licensing agreement of the IP holder, which need not be reasonable or effective; say screw it, use the IP and hide the schemata behind enough trade secret bs red tape that no one is comfortable leaking it, or give up.

I wager the second option contributes to things when number 1 fails. At least, it's the only reason that holds water for me, then again, I haven't gotten into that industry enough to vouch for the presence of skeletal remains in the closet.