[noonespecial]

If all employees were trained (by mandatory corporate training) that "under no circumstances should you ever read any patents, ever", and "if you ever have any doubts about anything being patentable, direct the question to our lawyer", and you were very strict about enforcing it, you could make a case that pretty much every invention was discovered independently.

Thanks to the "treble damages" part, this is exactly how it operates right now, right down to the corporate training. Unless you're a patent attorney, "never ever read a patent" is pretty good advice for any technical professional.