economic benefits and cost savings, intellectual property protection and the development of successful sales and marketing channels. One of the major hurdles to widespread adoption of our solutions will be overcoming established treatment patterns, which will require education of patients, clinicians and their referral sources.
In addition, we may compete with additional competitors and products outside the United States and Canada when we pursue plans to market our products internationally. Among other competitive advantages, such companies may have more established sales and marketing programs and networks, established relationships with clinicians and greater name recognition in such markets.
We believe our ability to compete effectively will be dependent on our ability to build the commercial infrastructure necessary to demonstrate the value of the GentleWave Procedure, maintain and improve product quality and feature functionality, build the infrastructure to support the operating needs of the business and achieve cost reductions.
Intellectual Property
We actively seek to protect the intellectual property and proprietary technology that we believe is important to our business. We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, employment, confidentiality and invention assignment agreements, and protective contractual provisions with our employees, contractors, consultants, suppliers, partners and other third parties, to protect our intellectual property rights.
As of June 30, 2021, we owned 26 U.S. patents, which are expected to expire between April 19, 2027 and April 18, 2038, and there were 42 pending U.S. patent applications. As of June 30, 2021, we had 93 total issued foreign patents in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Hong Kong, Israel, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and South Africa, and there were 50 total pending foreign patent applications in Canada, China, Eurasia, Europe, Hong Kong, Israel, India, Japan, and South Korea, and 6 pending Patent Cooperation Treaty applications. The term of any individual patent depends on the relevant laws and regulations in the country in which it is granted. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term for a utility patent is generally 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a nonprovisional patent application in the applicable country.
As of June 30, 2021, we owned 13 U.S. patents, 15 pending U.S. patent applications, 59 foreign patents in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland, 11 pending foreign patent applications in Canada, China, Europe, and India, and 1 pending Patent Cooperation Treaty application that relate to our GentleWave console and procedure instruments. These patents and patent applications belong to patent families relating to the following technology areas:
| • | | Three utility-type patent families directed to procedure instruments with pressure wave generators and to the use of such instruments for dental procedures, the patents and patent applications (if issued) in these three patent families have anticipated expiration dates ranging from 2027 to 2031; |
| • | | Four utility-type patent families directed to pressure waves and irrigational flow for dental procedures, the patents in these four patent families have anticipated expiration dates ranging from 2033 to 2035, and the patent applications in these four patent families—if issued—would have anticipated expiration dates ranging from 2033 to 2041; |
| • | | Three design-type patent families directed to designs for a procedure instrument and console, the patents and patent applications (if issued) in these three patent families have anticipated expiration dates ranging from 2029 to at least 2036; and |
| • | | One utility-type patent family directed to other aspects of our GentleWave products, including console features such as security, authentication, and fluid management, the patents and patent applications (if issued) in this patent family have anticipated expiration dates in 2034. |
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