Skye
Member
Not to start this hubub up all over again, but he registered (was he awarded like they do patents?) for a Copyright, not a Patent.
So, while I'm no lawyer, it seems to me he hold the Copyright on the idea of a watch blank but he can't prevent someone from making them.
The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.
So, while I'm no lawyer, it seems to me he hold the Copyright on the idea of a watch blank but he can't prevent someone from making them.