Wow! This conversation is great! This is important stuff to consider for the continuence of the keris art. I would love to encourage more talk on these matters.
Maybe it is just the anarchist in me, but i do have a bit of a problem seeing any kind of artform patented. I think it is up to the buyer to be able to determine if they are buying real and quality items and putting a patent on a keris dhapur in no way insured that it won't be copied anyway. Just look at all the fake Guccis in the fashion world.
Keris makers today are certainly creating new keris with old dhapurs, dhapurs that were never "patented".