That ignores the point of the story and what I was responding to. If there is only 1 company to negotiate with, the government is really the only entity that c

That ignores the point of the story and what I was responding to. If there is only 1 company to negotiate with, the government is really the only entity that can threaten to simply create a competitor and give them the IP rights (by legal fiat) to do so. If you tell the existing company that your alternative solution is to compete with them using taxpayer money, they might choose to take the lesson of history and accept the government's negotiating position.