That's actually the wrong way round. In order to be pardoned, they first have to be found guilty, so they need to go through the expense of defending themselves

That's actually the wrong way round. In order to be pardoned, they first have to be found guilty, so they need to go through the expense of defending themselves. What's needed is to prevent the cases from getting that far in the first place, which could be done by the government taking possession of any relevant patents for the duration and issuing a time-limited license.