From Heather Moffet's website:
"Ansur Saddlery Ltd were sent a letter by our Portland, Oregon patent attorney, declaring our intention to sell the Fhoenix in the USA, the saddle having a patent applied for in it's own right, and containing a rigid component part, which the Ansur patent does not claim. The letter officially put Ansur on notice, and stated that if we did not hear from them, we would assume that they have no objections. Over a month has now passed with no response, so we have assumed that this is the case, and are intending to release the saddle for sale in the US from early January."
I believe that Ansur have/had? claimed a "world patent" on all treeless saddles. Seems a bit ridiculous to me, bearing in mind that I learnt to ride on a Barnsby pilch saddle in the early 1950's - and that certainly didn't have a tree - and neither do the saddles used traditionally by many working horsement in different parts of the world. I imagine they were more worried about competition from an even more conventional looking saddle than their own, and once they'd knocked down their major competition they would have gone after the less-conventional ones, too.
I always thought that competition was considered healthy in a capitalist society ... ah well, seems as if it's all over now!