Much of the business and international laws/requirements are beyond my intellect. I believe that the company we have all chosen to invest in has the proper management and advisors to handle the patents and filings. Furthermore, OWCP and OWC would not keep speaking of IP protection and patents if they did not have the proper filings in place. It is also my opinion that they wouldn't want to tarnish their professional reputations if they overlooked patent protection filing expiration dates. There is another guy on IHub Alex Swiss that seems to have some knowledge of the patents. He seems very knowledgeable and forthright with his information.