When it comes to intellectual property, what do we actually own? What it comes down to is that no one can own a process or a technique. Those things stretch way beyond us....into the past where techniques were being developed by other artists, and into the future to the next generation of makers and artists who will use and expand on the techniques we use. What we own are our designs, our final products, our objects....no one can own a technique, even one they've developed themselves. Our art is ephemeral, but a skill can go on and on and on.