But a person like that can very lucratively sell actual products that already exist, so why would they want to sell this mysterious X?
a) employs enough scientists who know what they're doing and lawyers who know what they're doing to file relevant and defensible patents; and
b) has enough entrenched relationships that they can pay for a sales force what knows what they're doing; but
c) doesn't employ enough engineers who know what they're doing to develop actual competitive products around those patentable ideas.
But a person like that can very lucratively sell actual products that already exist, so why would they want to sell this mysterious X?