@Hyperhidrosis If he had developed it in private, he'd likely had fared even worse, as companies are lined up ready to pull out their patents and threaten to sue for patent infringement. As a result, he couldn't get blue LEDs manufactured unless he was to cross licensed with those companies (meaning the gets a useless document full of fluff and the business gets a nice blue LED design) and the big business could then proceed to sell blue LEDs, leaving him without a hope to compete.

If governments were actually interested in serving their citizens, they would admit that every single patent in the last 50 years is completely invalid and refuse to enforce or grant any more, but governments are only interested in serving businesses.