Only true if you have the finance to defend it or if you can slide it through without anyone noticing.
Case in point, this TPI that I developed back in 2012 / 13 , the very same one KTM has taken up, was heavily discussed with photos and video on TSM web site.
Last year KTM tried to belatedly patent TPI, lucky a good freind of mine discovered the application and notified me. By this time TM were about to start selling TPI themselves because they understood TPI could not be patented, through my previous work, 'prior knowlage'.
It took TM time and money to get the application tossed out with input from me.
Had this not happened the patent may well have been granted, increasing the cost to TM substantially. Not everything with patenting is cut and dried. One thing is for certain, a big sack of money is required no matter what happens.
This sort of crap happens all the time.
Here we are 2013 running the original Transfer Port Injection.