Lonewolf, your example is a good one because master patterns get sold from GKer to GKer. A true story is that I just recently bought the Ravenstar Baker-class pattern from Big Pat, who previously bought them from Ravenstar or somebody else. So you can see how things could get murky real quick.
On the topic of buying a mold. Purchasing a mold doesn't guarantee any privilage to sell the product. A recaster could make a mold of someone else's kit and say that the pattern "accidentally" got destroyed, but is willing to sell you a mold. At that point, the first one you sell would make you a recaster.
I have had the opportunity to purchase some molds, but turned them down because I just wasn't satisfied that I would be doing the moral thing, since I couldn't be sure who really made that mold. I never want to be the guy who unknowingly recasts someone else's hard work. Owning the original pattern guarantee's that I can sell the product. If you're about to bring up the topic of licensed vs unlicensed, that's a whole other story, and you're right, I don't have a license for anything. But I won't recast a fellow GKer's hard work.
Now, can we get back to the phase pistol?
