[roc]

> "Moreover it completely ignores the risk of devoting a ton of resources to developing a product that is already protected by a patent."

That's what the legal advisers (who recommend this strategy) are for. You bring them a concept or prototype, they do clearance/patentability checks and make a recommendation -- not only in whether to proceed, but potentially including advice on how to proceed in the most legally advantageous manner.

(Your specific invention may be patentable even when generalized to cover additional uses -- indeed much of the value of good patent counsel comes from their ability to get you the most-broad patent possible.)