shecky - just checked out the Demko/CS patent...it's on the knife, not the blade-opening mechanism.
Anybody more knowledgable than me on patents...feel free to jump in to explain.
Dan
My reading of the patent clearly emphasizes the "self opening" aspect of the knife in which the blade is opened by engaging the user's pocket. Then again, I'm not a patent lawyer.
The original point of bringing it up being that it's hard to claim "rip off" when a specific aspect of a design is patented by the entity doing the "rip off".
As far as "ripping off" the overall shape or design... rip off of whom? It's a folding kukri. Maybe some guy in Nepal is claiming intellectual rights over that shape. Maybe he can claim to have invented the wheel, too.