I would guess that the legal teams at major companies are traditionally gun shy about this kind of thing. Let's say Coke buys some IP resulting from this thing for $10k and then it goes on to revolutionize their business model and they make millions and millions from it .
I'm going to guess that whoever got stuck with the $10k is going to come back with lawyers and say they were taken advantage of, that their interests in the IP negotiation weren't properly represented, that a team of tinkers was no match to negotiate with a professional team of IP lawyers, etc... That's not to say that those are valid arguments, but they are arguments plenty of people make after the fact.
It's been my experience that huge companies have a vested interest in the appearance of dealing fairly and matter-of-factly with small third party vendors, especially in terms of IP law. Even if taking advantage of someone in such a manner doesn't become a legal issue, it's a huge PR liability.
I'm going to guess that whoever got stuck with the $10k is going to come back with lawyers and say they were taken advantage of, that their interests in the IP negotiation weren't properly represented, that a team of tinkers was no match to negotiate with a professional team of IP lawyers, etc... That's not to say that those are valid arguments, but they are arguments plenty of people make after the fact.
It's been my experience that huge companies have a vested interest in the appearance of dealing fairly and matter-of-factly with small third party vendors, especially in terms of IP law. Even if taking advantage of someone in such a manner doesn't become a legal issue, it's a huge PR liability.