Even with IP, there is very little stopping the big actors from developing something similar but debatable distinct, at a larger scale. By the time the lawsuit clears, they've wrecked your profitablity.

In fact, more often you see big companies act as patent trolls, using IP as a bludgeon to threaten smaller players who don't have an army of lawyers. See, DMCA takedowns to suppress speech, patent trolls, and esp trademark nonsense.

Trade secrets fit your example best, but more often than not that's something that relies on worker restrictions rather than traditional "IP"