Laying A Wet Blanket Over The Competition

In addition to inventing things and patenting them in a novel space, a good monopolist tries hard to prevent the competition from expanding beyond the spaces they already control. This has nothing to do with inventing anything useful, or adding any value to society, but is simply directed towards stifling the competition. One powerful way to accomplish that task is to (a) map the competitive landscape in a given field, (b) try to determine where the technology is headed in that field, and then (c) secure patents that prevent competitors from advancing in that direction.