At any time during a patent’s enforcement period, a third-party may file for Ex Parte Reexamination. They may do so anonymously. The petitioner must provide prior art to show a substantial and new question of patentability that was not previously considered in reviews of the patent. This standard is intended to prevent third-parties from raising frivolous challenges to patents.
Reexamination is significantly different than Post-Grant Review and Inter Partes Review, because the proceeding is only between the patent owner and the USPTO. The petitioner usually does not play a role other than the initial filing. The review is conducted by a special panel of examiners called the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) and usually takes two years. A patent owner may appeal a decision by the CRU to the PTAB and then the U.S. Court of Appeals. Ex Parte Reexamination might be attractive to third-parties that have strong prior art to challenge a patent and want to remain anonymous. It is also relatively cheap for the petitioner because they are not involved in the proceedings."
https://entrepreneurship.law.umich.edu/challenging-patent-va...
IMO today the patent system favors companies with deep pockets, because they can financially strangle competitors with less resources.
In addition existing prior art does not mean much as the US law favors the first to file, not the first to invent [0].
I think an easier exercise would be to invent an alternative mechanism and to patent it, and be ready to be taken to court by competitors.
[0] https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/patents/first-t...