Also listed on Ethicon LLC, an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.

Term ends no later than Dec 4, 2026 · Medium confidence

Computed 20-year base term

In force on USPTO's status record and by its fee record. A terminal disclaimer on file may shorten this term, possibly to a date already past; its reference document is unresolved, so the date above is an upper bound and no earlier date is guessed.

Held by Cilag GmbH International

Filed Sep 20, 2016 as application 15/270,796 · Granted Nov 26, 2019

Base term plus 307 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)

Today

20 years from filing

Ends no later than Dec 4, 2026

2006 2026

Clock starts
Jan 31, 2006

Ends no later than
Dec 4, 2026

Granted
Nov 26, 2019

base term patent term adjustment 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

307

Days of term adjustment

Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.

Unresolved

Terminal disclaimer

On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.

1 of 1

Maintenance fees paid

One maintenance fee can end this term early, the one due 3.5 years from grant; the next one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts it if the record shows it paid.

Family applications on record here

Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.

This patent's term runs 307 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 1 of 1 maintenance fees is paid so far. Confidence: Medium. 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.

Step	Input	Date after this step	Confidence
Base term, 20 years from filing	Clock starts Jan 31, 2006, when application 11/343,803, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 20, 2016)	Jan 31, 2026	High confidence
Continuity chain	Every parent in the chain resolved	no change	High confidence
Patent term adjustment	+307 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record	Dec 4, 2026	High confidence
Terminal disclaimer cap	Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved	no cap applied, and none guessed	Medium confidence
Patent term extension	None on file	no change	High confidence
Fee events	1 of 1 maintenance fees paid	In force	High confidence
Computed term end	The steps above, in order	no later than Dec 4, 2026	Medium confidence

This family

US 7,845,537	In force Oct 2029	Oct 2029
US 8,161,977	In force Apr 2027	Apr 2027
Application 12/693,460	Abandoned not computed	not computed
Application 12/846,228	Abandoned not computed	not computed
US 8,167,185	Term ended Jan 2026	Jan 2026
US 8,157,153	Term ended Jan 2026	Jan 2026
US 8,172,124	Term ended Jan 2026	Jan 2026
US 8,763,879	Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2026	Jul 2026

8 of 97 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.

Recorded	Assignor	Assignee	Conveyance
Apr 19, 2017 Reel 42066, frame 537	Shelton, Frederick E., IV; Ouwerkerk, John N.; Morgan, Jerome R.; Swayze, John S.	Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC	Assignment of Assignor's Interest
Dec 14, 2017 Reel 45603, frame 712	Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC	Ethicon LLC	Change of Name
Apr 27, 2021 Reel 56601, frame 339	Ethicon LLC	Cilag GmbH International	Assignment 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.

Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.

Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.

What's changing

Dec 2026

Term ends no later than Dec 4, 2026. No further fees fall due before then

Note

A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed

Note

The 307 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us

Open question

A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than Dec 4, 2026. We will not guess the cap.

Citations

1,094

later US patents cite this one

That is top 1% of utility patents granted in 2019 in our data, the only group it is compared against. How we rank

Every date shows its work: the base term, any term adjustment or extension, any disclaimer cap, and the maintenance fee record, each with a confidence tier. How this record was built

This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.

In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.

Surgical Instrument with Firing Lockout