Did you come up with this assertion yourself or are you relating a sales pitch someone at Dr Tim or Tetra told you?
Either way it is completely false, the patent you quoted is just about a probe, which does not exclude anyone from manufacturing nitrifying bacteria. A patent is an exclusionary legal right for a particular invention or new method for an existing invention (the patent might be based on other patents even) it does not prevent anyone from using another method, and it does not even mean the patent is the best method (this would be of course impossible for the USPTO, or anyone to know). It is solely about using or selling (but only in the country it was patented in) that particular probe.
Nitrifying bacteria form no spores but this argument is moot as the bottled bacteria are brought in a dormant state.
Think about it; anyone at home can culture these bacteria with a fishless cycle or a fish in cycle, but it would be impossible for a company to grow them in bottles? Nobody needs a probe for that. It may or may not be handy but I can think of several other methods to do it.
Either way it is completely false, the patent you quoted is just about a probe, which does not exclude anyone from manufacturing nitrifying bacteria. A patent is an exclusionary legal right for a particular invention or new method for an existing invention (the patent might be based on other patents even) it does not prevent anyone from using another method, and it does not even mean the patent is the best method (this would be of course impossible for the USPTO, or anyone to know). It is solely about using or selling (but only in the country it was patented in) that particular probe.
Nitrifying bacteria form no spores but this argument is moot as the bottled bacteria are brought in a dormant state.
Think about it; anyone at home can culture these bacteria with a fishless cycle or a fish in cycle, but it would be impossible for a company to grow them in bottles? Nobody needs a probe for that. It may or may not be handy but I can think of several other methods to do it.
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