LOL. I only know what I've observed by a) knowing those who have gotten patents and seen them stolen and talking to manufacturers who just figure it's useless to patent anything, because they're not going to spend the money to defend it anyway unless it's something really extraordinary.

It's interesting. I don't know if you know who Chance Barber is, with Edison Motors. They are operating in Canada. He said that one of the really crucial differences between Chinese manufacturing and North American manufacturing is that when they discover a process that makes manufacturing something better or cheaper, they share it between operations. In the North American market we squirrel that away and protect it jealously because it gives one company an "advantage" over all the competition. In other words, we handicap our selves against the Chinese, but that's a separate argument.