The very real threat of the legal system was used, backed up by the terrifying financial reality of a good legal defense. You can't honestly say that means the legal system wasn't involved. An easy test is - if the system were different, could the threat be less severe?

And I don't see why a preliminary ruling would mean 'vastly' more expensive - you can mostly re-use your work in the real case. And if it turns out to be without merit, you've saved yourself a lot of money. In the very, very worst case scenario, this system would cost 2x as much for the offense, and be vastly cheaper for the defense side. Definitely preferable to the current reality, where you can be forced to spend an arbitrary amount on legal defense.