I posted about this back in June.
Both Medeli and Music Tribe have trademarks for POLYTOUCH with the USPTO ( U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ). Medeli’s precedes the Music Tribe one by 21 months. The Medeli one has been approved, the Music Tribe one has only been applied for. They may be in separate categories.
Here are the USPTO reports:
Medeli
Music Tribe
I’ve posted about Behringer working on a poly-aftertouch keyboard elsewhere. They intend to use it in both a CS-80 and a DX-7 sort of synth. Don’t know if they have intents for using it for MPE, or in a controller.
I don’t think there are any restrictions on a generic poly-aftertouch keybed, although i would bet there are current patents on specific implementations for this technology. The more the merrier. The issue of naming and trademark is a minor deal, and easily resolved.
Hopefully Behringer does intend an MPE controller, and they make a top notch keybed, and add even more dimensions. Doing a poly-aftertouch keybed that feels natural, and works well is not a trivial task.
Medeli has a short blurb on their keybed on their technology page.