Lapsed May 4, 2025 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ends Dec 23, 2028
First maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by RCS IP, LLC
Filed Apr 24, 2020 as application 16/858,379 · Granted May 4, 2021
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Lapsed May 4, 2025
2008
2028
Clock starts
Dec 23, 2008
Dec 23, 2008
No longer in force
May 4, 2025
May 4, 2025
Granted
May 4, 2021
May 4, 2021
Term would have run to
Dec 23, 2028
Dec 23, 2028
base term
after the term ends
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 10,257,148, US 8,700,072, US 9,049,163, US 9,356,900, to Dec 23, 2028. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
0 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.
6
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 Dec 23, 2028: its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 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.
| Step | Input | Date after this step | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base term, 20 years from filing | Clock starts Dec 23, 2008, when application 12/342,838, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 24, 2020) | Dec 23, 2028 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 10,257,148, US 8,700,072, US 9,049,163, US 9,356,900) | resolves to Dec 23, 2028, no earlier than this term, so no change | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 0 of 1 maintenance fees paid | lapsed May 4, 2025 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | May 4, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 8,700,072 | In force Oct 2030 | Oct 2030 |
| US 9,049,163 | In force Dec 2028 | Dec 2028 |
| US 9,356,900 | Lapsed on the fee record May 2020 | May 2020 |
| US 10,257,148 | In force Dec 2028 | Dec 2028 |
| Application 16/356,202 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 10,999,233 | this patent May 2025 | May 2025 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 2020 Reel 53861, frame 33 | Pascal, Kristin Marie; Klonsky, Andrew Evan; Bailey, Matthew James | AT&T Mobility II LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 23, 2020 Reel 53861, frame 163 | AT&T Mobility II LLC | Textsoft LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 23, 2020 Reel 53861, frame 340 | Prepaid Text, LLC | RCS IP, LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 23, 2020 Reel 53863, frame 274 | Textsoft LLC | Prepaid Text, LLC | 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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 10,257,148, US 8,700,072, US 9,049,163, US 9,356,900, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
2
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2021 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
Computed patent terms end on the dates shown. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.