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Staple Cartridge Comprising Staples with Different Unformed Heights

US 10,028,742 Lapsed on the fee record
OverviewFamilyAssignmentsSources & methods

Lapsed Jul 24, 2026 on the fee record · High confidence

Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.

Filed Apr 6, 2015 as application 14/679,441 · Granted Jul 24, 2018
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 452 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Jul 24, 2026
2005 2027
Clock starts
Nov 9, 2005
No longer in force
Jul 24, 2026
Granted
Jul 24, 2018
Term would have run to
Feb 4, 2027
base term patent term adjustment after the term ends fee events Updated Nov 14, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 14, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
452
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
1 of 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
9
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.

Its term would have run to Feb 4, 2027: its 20-year base term plus 452 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: High. from the record

How we calculated this date

One row per rule, each showing its own input and what it did to the date. A step we could not verify says so instead of resolving itself.
StepInputDate after this stepConfidence
Base term, 20 years from filingClock starts Nov 9, 2005, when application 11/270,866, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 6, 2015)Nov 9, 2025High confidence
Continuity chainEvery parent in the chain resolvedno changeHigh confidence
Patent term adjustment+452 days, USPTO patent term adjustment recordFeb 4, 2027High confidence
Terminal disclaimer capNone on recordno cap appliedHigh confidence
Patent term extensionNone on fileno changeHigh confidence
Fee events1 of 2 maintenance fees paidlapsed Jul 24, 2026High confidence
Computed term endThe steps above, in orderJul 24, 2026High confidence

This family

Application 11/270,866Abandoned
not computed
not computed
US 8,858,571In force
Jan 2029
Jan 2029
US 9,895,147Lapsed on the fee record
Feb 2026
Feb 2026
US 10,149,679In force
Dec 2026
Dec 2026
US 9,968,356Lapsed on the fee record
May 2026
May 2026
US 10,028,742this patent
Jul 2026
Jul 2026
US 10,806,449Term ended
Feb 2026
Feb 2026
US 10,993,713Lapsed on the fee record
May 2025
May 2025
8 of 9 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.

Assignments

Assignment documents as recorded at the USPTO, oldest first, with the reel and frame each was recorded at. A recorded assignment is a filed document, not a statement of current ownership, and the absence of a later one is not evidence that the last one still stands.
RecordedAssignorAssigneeConveyance
Jul 28, 2015
Reel 36189, frame 828
Shelton, Frederick E., IV; Swayze, Jeffrey S.; Morgan, Jerome R.Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.Assignment of Assignor's Interest
May 1, 2017
Reel 42192, frame 893
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.Ethicon LLCAssignment of Assignor's Interest
Dec 14, 2017
Reel 45603, frame 712
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLCEthicon LLCChange of Name
Apr 27, 2021
Reel 56601, frame 339
Ethicon LLCCilag GmbH InternationalAssignment of Assignor's Interest

Sources

Google Patents · The patent document at USPTO · Assignment records at USPTO

USPTO account required: This application in Patent Center · USPTO's maintenance fee lookup

Maintenance fee events come from USPTO's own fee records. Its fee lookup asks for the patent number and the application number.

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