I did some research, and this is what I was told by some people at Marion and Paulson. It was a little vague to me, but this is the gist:

Marion for many years has had exclusive ownership of the web mold. They still do. The owners of Marion are related to the man who owned Ace Sportsworks (Hymie Goldman owned Ace Sportsworks and created the mold, circa 1930's).

I was told (and this seems strange) that sometimes the manufacturers are too busy with molds and can't fill new orders, so not to lose business for private chips with "secured" molds, they get permission (and pay a small fee) to use someone else's mold. Paulson told me that their use of the web mold (for the Geo Washington poker chip) was a "mistake." Marion said it was a "fluke." Marion also said they would be using the mold more often.

Robert