Term ended Aug 24, 2019 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Jan 25, 2019
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on Apr 6, 2020.
Held by Apple Inc.
Filed Dec 17, 2004 as application 11/015,434 · Granted Mar 4, 2008
Base term plus 211 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Aug 24, 2019
1999
2026
Clock starts
Jan 25, 1999
Jan 25, 1999
Term ended
Aug 24, 2019
Aug 24, 2019
Granted
Mar 4, 2008
Mar 4, 2008
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
211
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
2 of 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
90
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 211 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. Confidence: Medium. 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 Jan 25, 1999, when application 09/236,513, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 17, 2004); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Jan 25, 2019 | 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 | +211 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Aug 24, 2019 | 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 | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on Apr 6, 2020, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Aug 24, 2019 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 6,888,536 | Term ended Jan 2019 | Jan 2019 |
| US 8,479,122 | Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2025 | Jul 2025 |
| US 7,760,187 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 7,339,580 | this patent Aug 2019 | Aug 2019 |
| US 8,239,784 | Lapsed on the fee record Aug 2024 | Aug 2024 |
| US 9,348,458 | Lapsed on the fee record May 2024 | May 2024 |
| US 7,599,044 | In force Jul 2027 | Jul 2027 |
| Application PCT/US2005/025641 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 90 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2005 Reel 16536, frame 701 | Ud Technology Corporation | Fingerworks, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 16, 2005 Reel 16536, frame 712 | The University of Delaware | Ud Technology Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 10, 2007 Reel 19804, frame 453 | Fingerworks, Inc. | Apple 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.
What's changing
Note
The 211 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
738
later US patents cite this one
That is top 1% of utility patents granted in 2008 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.