"#2. Won't work. Lawyers will find a way to force the Patent Office to ignore any prior art pertaining to their application. It's only a question of time."
The lawyers have already done that. It is called "first to file". "First to file" says that the Patent Office is to ignore any prior art not already patented.
Lawyers successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress to pass the America Invents Act which changes the U.S. to first to file on March 16, 2013.
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Steve Stites