US Patent examiners have for decades been very much of the position to not worry much about existing prior art when granting patents, relying instead on the ide

US Patent examiners have for decades been very much of the position to not worry much about existing prior art when granting patents, relying instead on the idea that people will challenge and overturn patents when necessary (this applies to the non-obviousness bar, too). This, coupled with a tendency for Patent examiners to have a subsequent well-paid career drafting patents, has lead to thousands of sketchy patents on the books that have high odds of being overturned, but only if a sufficiently resourced party challenges them. We shall see how these patents hold up...