My biggest worry is that they'll fold at some point, leaving all the e-ink patents in the hand of a troll that will hold tech back for 20 years.
But yeah, it was a sad day for me when I learned why e-ink isn't ubiquitous.
Do you have any source?
Here's an example of E-Ink defending their patents [2]
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779
[2] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171220005895/en/E-I...
It means that someone probably could make screens now, but they would be lower resolution, slower refresh and have less contrast than your typical Kindle. Probably good for some uses but probably not enough of a volume to bring prices down.
It also means that someone could advance the basic tech in directions that haven't been patented.
They have an extremely limited selection of products, and the ones they do have are priced unreasonably high. They seem to be reluctant to enter into bulk OEM agreements with anyone, and they charge exorbitant license fees for anyone who wants to manufacture displays themselves.
In short, they are considered to be terrible stewards of the technology.