certain implementations will become obsolete, but once the concept is patented and the patent expires it can be re-implemented by anyone, forever. If you don't

certain implementations will become obsolete, but once the concept is patented and the patent expires it can be re-implemented by anyone, forever. If you don't want to wait the five years, there is an astonishing amount of prior art from the 1960's to 1990's that can be applied.