Term ended Jan 31, 2023 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Sep 28, 2021
Held by Meta Platforms, Inc.
Filed Mar 29, 2002 as application 10/109,909 · Granted Feb 28, 2006
Base term plus 490 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Jan 31, 2023
2001
2026
Clock starts
Sep 28, 2001
Sep 28, 2001
Term ended
Jan 31, 2023
Jan 31, 2023
Granted
Feb 28, 2006
Feb 28, 2006
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
490
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
3 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.
45
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 490 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. 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 Sep 28, 2001, when application 09/966,703, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 29, 2002) | Sep 28, 2021 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +490 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 31, 2023 | 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 | 3 of 3 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jan 31, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,313,617 | Term ended Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
| US 7,007,085 | this patent Jan 2023 | Jan 2023 |
| US 8,341,018 | Lapsed on the fee record Dec 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Application 10/184,670 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,272,633 | Term ended Aug 2023 | Aug 2023 |
| Application PCT/US2002/031172 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2002/031174 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2002/031171 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 45 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2002 Reel 13185, frame 933 | Malik, Dale W. | BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32004, frame 730 | AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32004, frame 872 | AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Facebook, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 433 | BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation | AT&T Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 483 | AT&T Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T BLS Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 504 | AT&T BLS Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Dec 20, 2021 Reel 58961, frame 436 | Facebook, Inc. | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Change of Name |
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
Note
The 490 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
50
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2006 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.