Yeah, I'm not up with the finer points of patent law either but I guess the Chinese brands have either used expired patents or made a work-around. But perhaps the big S brands have realized that once the Chinese brands make a workable budget groupset (and it seems they are close) then the bike manufacturers will spec them, like they did with the original Grip-shift. So perhaps the move to electronic is a way to stay away from a price war as cable components become commodities.