The way patents are enforced is the patent holder sues for damages. This obviously means there needs to be some damages, i.e. they claim they lost sales or some

The way patents are enforced is the patent holder sues for damages. This obviously means there needs to be some damages, i.e. they claim they lost sales or something. If you aren't using the patent to make products or money, just to do research, this is a hard case to make. I wonder if it actually ever happens in academia. Note that everything you "invent" that builds on the prior patent, including what you publish, is still blocked by that patent. And even if you ultimately remove the patented part, they can claim it was needed in the research process. So wantonly infringing on a patent in your research doesn't hurt the patent holder anyway.