The Patent Finder
US

Method of Protecting L. Johnsonii LA1 Against Stress

US 6,939,705 Lapsed on the fee record
OverviewFamilyAssignmentsSources & methods

Lapsed Sep 6, 2013 on the fee record · High confidence

Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.

Held by Nestec S.A.
Filed Mar 6, 2002 as application 10/018,492 · Granted Sep 6, 2005
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 241 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Sep 6, 2013
2000 2026
Clock starts
Jun 9, 2000
No longer in force
Sep 6, 2013
Granted
Sep 6, 2005
Term would have run to
Feb 5, 2021
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
241
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 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.
79
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 5, 2021: its 20-year base term plus 241 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 Jun 9, 2000, when application PCT/EP2000/005403, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 6, 2002)Jun 9, 2020High confidence
Continuity chainEvery parent in the chain resolvedno changeHigh confidence
Patent term adjustment+241 days, USPTO patent term adjustment recordFeb 5, 2021High confidence
Terminal disclaimer capNone on recordno cap appliedHigh confidence
Patent term extensionNone on fileno changeHigh confidence
Fee events1 of 3 maintenance fees paidlapsed Sep 6, 2013High confidence
Computed term endThe steps above, in orderSep 6, 2013High confidence

This family

US 7,192,419Lapsed on the fee record
Mar 2019
Mar 2019
US 7,029,669Lapsed on the fee record
Apr 2018
Apr 2018
US 6,887,465Term ended
Mar 2020
Mar 2020
US 7,368,272Lapsed on the fee record
May 2012
May 2012
US 6,733,770Term ended
Mar 2020
Mar 2020
US 6,835,376Term ended
Mar 2020
Mar 2020
US 6,939,705this patent
Sep 2013
Sep 2013
US 7,084,107Term ended
no later than Apr 2020
no later than Apr 2020
8 of 79 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
Jun 19, 2002
Reel 13003, frame 922
Schmidt, Gudrun; Zink, RalfNestec S.A.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.

The Patent Finder CompaniesExpirationsCalculatorWatchlistPricing MethodologyCorrectionsLegalPrivacysupport@thepatentfinder.com Updated Nov 14, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 14, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) Part of 137 Finder · © 2026 137 Finder LLC · Sources cited