I have no problems with patent protections, but I know of no law prohibiting independent research, or even reverse engineering something.
Governments around the world signed some crazy contracts with Pfizer, etc.:
As long as they are EUA, they don’t have to reveal all the contents, for example.
The basis of a patent is consideration. If you tell us how you made that Stradivarius, we'll give you a certain time window of exclusive rights.
Avoiding such disclosure goes from Patent Pending to no patent.