RE:RE:RE:FutilityCan be a threat if the company sits on their development or does not aggressively defend it. There are no patent police.
Typically a business will build in-house know-how or learn some other "tricks of the trade" that are not contained in the original patent. They may or may not build on the original patented work with more patents (or keep it in-house).
If competitors like your process/product they will review and try to determine work arounds. They may also incorporate patented apects (intentionally or unintentionally) that are not easily recognizable in the market.
The best defense is to keep advancing ...... and be extremely vigilant of competitive products / processes that may infringe.