This is so true. Everyone believes they can do it better/different in house as you say. There is an art in working around patents so as to be non-infringing for those willing to invest the time and take the chance. Then there are those who skip that step altogether and just take the chance. They employ an art of working around the judicial system to beat the patent.

In today’s environment, you don't want to just license something someone else can license, you want something that is exclusive your competitors don’t have. But if you buy the patents/company what you are actually buying is the right to litigate. And so it goes. This is what we face in the selling of IP.