On a similar line to patents is the build out of very large projects. The market for publicly traded companies is such that the base is often set up, or eventually borrowed against in such a way that the project is funded and built out by a huge number of citizen investors.
The numbers often suck for the build out and return for the corporate principles...BUT if it goes bankrupt and the assets are sold for pennies on the dollar the resultant holders make a mint because all of the fixed costs have been passed off as a broad investor loss.
A lot of the cable and telco modernizations and build outs were like this. Railroads in the past were similar and many mines for that matter.
I had not known that in those terms, but I recognize what you are saying. I appreciate your breaking it down like that for me.