I was so intrigued by what he was producing, so I got him to talk with me about it. He said he and his wife had, working together, spent ten years of research, experimentation and invention, not only figuring out how to do it but creating the equipment to do it and do it well.
I asked how much time and expense they put into getting the process or equipment patented. He floored me when he said they had gotten NO patents for any of it. I was amazed and opined that that seemed wild to me as I had never seen anything like it and surely they wanted to protect what they had.
He told me that they had looked into getting key parts of the process and key equipment patented, and, in the end decided against it. They thought the expense was too much, the time involved too long and possibly litigious, and to get the patents they had to actually make a public record of the "how to" of what they had.
He said that his wife and him finally decided: "If someone else can figure this out on their own, so be it."
I am not fully in agreement with their choice, but I have such respect for them that when I discuss this issue I try not to say directly what it is they did.
It's been twelve years. They still have their same small location and do their business out of a small semi-rural studio. I have not yet seen anyone else repeat their work. They are not trying to spread what they know to the world, but they are not stopping anyone from doing what they do. They actually do not want to be business giants and very well known. They like their lifestyle just as it is.
While I can see the "rightness" of patents, I can also see that it is a process - getting patents - that itself (the process) REQUIRES you to protect, or you might as well not start down that road in the first place. It depends on the business model that satisfies what it is you want to do.
More power to ‘em.
(Now I’m dying to know what and how)...