Thieves would just have to change one little thing not to breach the patent.
I checked on all this when I made a wheel lift for repoing cars about 20 years ago.
It'd fit in the back of a pickup truck and fold itself out and load the car
without you ever having to leave the cab of the truck,
then fold itself back up and hide again,
so you just looked like an ordinary truck going down the road.
It was electric over hydraulic design.
cost me over $10,000.00 to build the first one.
it now sits in the field out in the woods by the barn.
Told the wife I'd use it for yard art before I'd let them steal it, so that's what it's doing...