All right. Quick nitty gritty on US IP law. When someone has IP that they wish to protect, they can designate said item to "stake their claim". That is what a patent pending is about. It's the IP creator or owner staking their claim. Same goes for trademarks and service marks. If you see a business with a phrase, logo, or slogan, and it's followed by a little TM or SM, that means they are staking their claim. Once it has been submitted and approved (registered) by the USPTO, then they can switch to an R. Do a google image search for "I'm Lovin' it!", McDonald's trademark. You'll see different variations, and will see how it went from TM to R. Basically, same thing as patent pending and patented. The cool thing about all IP is that you could just register locally by state (just marks), nationally , and even internationally. Internationally is done through an organization created by the United Nations called the World Intellectual Property Organization. This organization will receive applications for international patent recognition. Your patent will eventually be awarded by your home country, but once accepted by the WIPO, will be registered with all of the member countries. Now, as far as Imeo's patent is concerned, I have no idea what is going on as I am not his local counsel. However, I'm sure he had a fine counsel that is taking care of all of this for him. Regardless of where he is in the process, if he is first to file, then he will have control of the IP.