Term ended Apr 16, 2024 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 16, 2024
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on Mar 9, 2026.
Held by Illinois Tool Works Inc.
Filed Oct 9, 2015 as application 14/880,039 · Granted Feb 1, 2022
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Apr 16, 2024
2004
2026
Clock starts
Apr 16, 2004
Apr 16, 2004
Term ended
Apr 16, 2024
Apr 16, 2024
Granted
Feb 1, 2022
Feb 1, 2022
base term
after the term ends
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 15, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
None due
Maintenance fees
This term ends before the first maintenance fee's grace period does, 4 years from grant, so no fee can end it early.
8
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 is its 20-year base term, with no 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.
| Step | Input | Date after this step | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base term, 20 years from filing | Clock starts Apr 16, 2004, when application 10/709,148, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Oct 9, 2015) | Apr 16, 2024 | 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 | None on record | no cap applied | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | No maintenance fee can end the term early | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on Mar 9, 2026, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Apr 16, 2024 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,180,029 | Term ended Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 |
| US 8,592,724 | In force Jan 2030 | Jan 2030 |
| US 9,012,807 | In force Jan 2030 | Jan 2030 |
| US 9,162,311 | Term ended Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 |
| Application PCT/US2007/003672 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 10,758,994 | Term ended Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
| US 11,517,972 | Term ended Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 11,235,413 | this patent Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 7, 2018 Reel 45132, frame 322 | Ott, Brian L. | Illinois Tool Works Inc. | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
Citations
0
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2022 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.