Apologies, I didn't mean "hide". I meant "bury". As in, obtain the patent as a means to prevent others from exploiting the technology, but refrain from licensing it or exploiting it yourself, because it would undermine your main moneymaker product.

So, pharma companies trying to obtain "non-invasive glucose monitoring" patents like crazy, to stop other companies from creating such things, because they want to keep selling pinpricks which rely on a consumable model.

Having said that, now that everyone's into "bullshit subscription models", perhaps the era of "bullshit consumables" may be coming to an end.