Term ended Dec 25, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Nov 10, 2025
Held by Cilag GmbH International
Filed Nov 10, 2005 as application 11/271,234 · Granted Apr 8, 2008
Base term plus 45 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Dec 25, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Nov 10, 2005
Nov 10, 2005
Term ended
Dec 25, 2025
Dec 25, 2025
Granted
Apr 8, 2008
Apr 8, 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
45
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.
71
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 45 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 Nov 10, 2005, when this application, 11/271,234, was filed | Nov 10, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +45 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Dec 25, 2025 | 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 | Dec 25, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 6,978,921 | Term ended May 2023 | May 2023 |
| US 7,380,696 | Term ended Sep 2023 | Sep 2023 |
| US 8,905,977 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
| US 7,354,447 | this patent Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| Application 11/289,918 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 11/538,154 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 11/731,521 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,215,531 | Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2024 | Jul 2024 |
8 of 71 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 10, 2006 Reel 17447, frame 500 | Shelton, IV, Frederick E.; Fugikawa, Leslie M. | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 6, 2015 Reel 37220, frame 212 | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Feb 27, 2017 Reel 41821, frame 186 | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC | Ethicon LLC | Change of Name |
| Apr 27, 2021 Reel 56601, frame 339 | Ethicon LLC | Cilag GmbH International | 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 45 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
2,208
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.