I'm generally anti-patent, but if there were any valid case for patents, this is it. Long, hard labor to discover something entirely new that has massive uses for society.

I'd rest my hopes on them not being dicks about it, not on them not getting benefit from it.

The worst possible outcome of weak protection is not creating new materials.

It would be the opposite. Nobody with develop technology to utilize it because there are no protections.

No MRI, No Fusion, ect.

Transistors, lithium batteries, leds, etc all enjoyed significant patent protection, but still changed the world.

I yearn for a Star Trek utopia as the next, but we do live in a capitalistic world where I hope that someone can enjoy outsized rewards for upending some previously insurmountable physical barriers.