Pharmaceutical companies are among the most profitable in the world thanks to a lack of competition: In the U.S., drugmakers are given the exclusive right to sell a prescription drug for up to twelve years before generic knock-offs come to market, allowing them to jack up prices for patients with no alternatives. It’s such a lucrative business model, in fact, that automakers are trying to replicate it. Over the past decade, car companies have increasingly patented replacement parts for their vehicles, from fenders to headlights to mirrors. Instead of having a choice of generic parts after an accident, auto repair shops must use patented parts from the manufacturer—and consumers pay the price for it.

A bipartisan coalition has built around the issue on Capitol Hill. Many conservatives don’t like patent protections distorting the market and stifling innovation; many liberals don’t like hidden monopolies intent on gouging people. In between those two views lies opportunity, though it must overcome the powerful automaker lobby.

Design patents, which are somewhat easier to obtain than traditional patents for inventions, are supposed to be limited to “ornamental” items with a specific appearance. Allowing component parts to be patented—the hood of a Camry, for instance, or the grille of a Ford Focus—stretches this definition, especially because it creates a profitable patent-enforced monopoly in aftermarket replacement parts, with no choice for the consumer after an accident. Design patents last for 14 years, which encompasses the life cycle of most cars.

The case that opened the floodgates for auto parts patents came in 2008. Ford obtained patents for several collision repair parts for their 2004 F-150, including the head and tail lamps, grille, side view mirror and bumpers. When Keystone Automotive Industries and several other suppliers attempted to import alternative F-150 parts from overseas factories, Ford filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging patent infringement. In 2008, the ITC found for Ford on seven of the patents, barring importation of competing replacements into the United States.

The parties ended up reaching a settlement in the matter, but it showed the auto industry that their patents would hold up to official scrutiny. Since 2005, design patents issued on collision repair parts have more than doubled, per data from the Quality Parts Coalition, a group of auto repair and insurance associations. Ford, Toyota and Honda have sought the most patents by a wide margin. The auto industry now generates the third-most patent filings of any business sector, behind only telecommunications and computing.