Ideally a patent like that should be denied ( or can be challenged in court) based on prior art. Prior art refers to documentation of an idea prior to a patent filing. So for example a person would not be able to patent an idea that was described in an a magazine , newspaper , or academic paper, before the patent was applied for.

If you want to patent something, use it more as a defense mechanism, so that other people can't claim that you stole their idea. Hope that helps.