>so as to be free to develop and test their products in a patent-free environment //
You're free to used patented inventions for development and testing - you can't use them commercially. So giving away the resulting product (which I think would include external testing by anyone considered part of 'the public').
The whole deal with patents is [supposed to be] to stimulate innovation - the sufficient disclosure parts of patents applications are for the express purpose of making duplication of the invention possible within the relevant art.
You're supposed to develop and test with patented inventions.
The problem of course comes when R&D of a product pauses and you have to start negotiating licensing and such in order to bring a product to market.
You're free to used patented inventions for development and testing - you can't use them commercially. So giving away the resulting product (which I think would include external testing by anyone considered part of 'the public').
The whole deal with patents is [supposed to be] to stimulate innovation - the sufficient disclosure parts of patents applications are for the express purpose of making duplication of the invention possible within the relevant art.
You're supposed to develop and test with patented inventions.
The problem of course comes when R&D of a product pauses and you have to start negotiating licensing and such in order to bring a product to market.