Talk:Cast Earth
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Patent[edit]
I can't find reference to the cast earth process being patented --- should it be there? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.222.74.42 (talk • contribs) 16:16, 11 September 2008
Patent Non-existent[edit]
It should have had a patent reference, but there doesn't appear to be an issued patent on Cast Earth. I have eleven issued patents myself and am familiar with the system, so I searched uspto.gov and found none. I subsequently discovered Mr. Lowenhaupt lists his issued and pending patents on his castearth.com site, and none is listed there for Cast Earth. Instead, Cast Earth appears to be a proprietary mixture and process, probably licensed through contractual control via non-disclosure agreement. It is common for processes and mixtures whose details cannot be deduced from the finished product (key elements lost by evaporation or that create reaction products that don't reveal their origins) to be kept proprietary rather than patented. This avoids publishing technical details that would make it possible to replicate the process without the patent holder's knowledge.
Those unfamiliar with the patent system may suppose that the USPTO or some other federal agency polices patents, but there are no patent police. Patent holders have to discover violations for themselves and pay litigation expenses necessary to enforce the patent (usually starting at about $60,000), or else find a team of litigating attorneys willing to work on contingency. The latter can be done only if someone's making a lot of money violating the patent so that it's worth the litigation firm's time to go after damages or a share of future royalties. Unclenick01 (talk) 15:58, 7 November 2013 (UTC)