You need to capitalize "old" as well if you're looking for proper emphasis. Only new patents have decades left to do anything, while "old, disused, and forgotte

You need to capitalize "old" as well if you're looking for proper emphasis. Only new patents have decades left to do anything, while "old, disused, and forgotten" patents definitely don't, and may have only a few years left. Many of these creaky old patents you see people being brought to court for are so viciously pursued because the holder is about to lose the patent and needs to eke out as much money as possible right now. But thankfully, they can't do that with the same patent for decades.