I believe there were several patent lawsuits between Swarovski and Leica, to engage the patent laws in different countries. I read somewhere that Leica won in one of the continental countries, but that Swarovski won in Great Britain, hence the Leica Magnus line cannot be sold in GB.
Someone else may be more current on this. Since Swarovski has pursued these patent suits in several countries, they'll certainly try to protect their patent in the United States.
