It's an old technology dated back just before 1900 in France....

It's an old technology dated back just before 1900 in France. This is why no one bothers with patent unless they have something unique in the way they make it. I think patent did not really exist at that time. Certainly you can put a trademark on the shape, colour and inscription of words on your capsule but that's cosmetics and design, not technology. I think you cannot get a patent for it unless the thing is completely new with new materials, method of fabrication and design.

There have been cheats before. A US company went to Mexico, took some grains and grew them in a lab for a couple of years. Then they applied for a copyright on the grain's colour. Then they went to sue traditional grain exporters from Mexico for alleged violation of their plants copyright and asked for royalty for the grains to be grown and imported into the US. This is an example of some one trying to put a copyright or patent on old things widely available on the world markets. Currently, there is a lawsuit about a potato variety copyrighted by one of the US fast food chains against Indian farmers growing it without paying for royalty. Not sure how this will play out.