You missed the point. If any car company thought these patents were worth pursuing, they wouldn’t be able to because the oil companies would never licence them. Why would the oil companies licence a patent for a product that lowers demand for their own product? They filed the patents to stifle competition and energy…

I think the logical link you are missing is that the oil companies filed patents of emission reducing and energy efficient technology not so they could develop it, but to prevent others from doing so. That’s why most patents are filled anyway, to keep the competition at bay. In this case, to prevent anyone from…