If the initial research is not patented and the big company makes a tiny research on top of it just to have a small innovation then they can patent the new rese

If the initial research is not patented and the big company makes a tiny research on top of it just to have a small innovation then they can patent the new research any way they want and in the process they will legally own the old research too. Just look at how the entire patent litigation is right now and is full of trolls that will patent anything they can think about and later will hit real work later.