Term ends Sep 21, 2038 · Low confidence
20-year base term ends Sep 21, 2038
Held by Imperial Tobacco Limited
Filed Jun 4, 2024 as application 18/733,777 · Granted Jun 24, 2025
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
2018
2038
Clock starts
Sep 21, 2018
Sep 21, 2018
Term ends
Sep 21, 2038
Sep 21, 2038
Granted
Jun 24, 2025
Jun 24, 2025
base term
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.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 11,633,556, to Sep 21, 2038. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
0 of 3
Maintenance fees paid
Three maintenance fees fall due, at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years from grant. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
5
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. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 0 of 3 maintenance fees are paid so far. Confidence: Low. 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 Sep 21, 2018, when application PCT/EP2018/075697, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jun 4, 2024); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Sep 21, 2038 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 11,633,556) | resolves to Sep 21, 2038, no earlier than this term, so no change | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 0 of 3 maintenance fees paid | In force | High confidence |
| Further caveats on record | The record names parents not resolved: 18191820 | Low confidence overall | Low confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Sep 21, 2038 | Low confidence |
This family
| US 11,633,556 | In force Apr 2039 | Apr 2039 |
| US 12,029,846 | In force Sep 2038 | Sep 2038 |
| US 12,337,105 | this patent Sep 2038 | Sep 2038 |
| Application 19/221,365 | Pending not computed | not computed |
4 of 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 21, 2024 Reel 69363, frame 952 | Jones, David; Lord, Chris; Sudlow, Thomas | Nerudia Limited | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 21, 2024 Reel 69364, frame 47 | Nerudia Limited | Imperial Tobacco Limited | 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.
What's changing
Sep 2038
Term ends Sep 21, 2038. Maintenance fees still fall due before then
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 11,633,556, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
0
later US patents cite this one
Fewer than half of the utility patents granted in 2025 in our data have been cited yet, so we show the count and do not rank on it.
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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.