Term ended Apr 22, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 22, 2025
Held by Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
Filed Apr 22, 2005 as application 11/112,345 · Granted Oct 28, 2008
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Apr 22, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Apr 22, 2005
Apr 22, 2005
Term ended
Apr 22, 2025
Apr 22, 2025
Granted
Oct 28, 2008
Oct 28, 2008
base term
after the term ends
fee events
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.
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.
7
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. 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 Apr 22, 2005, when this application, 11/112,345, was filed | Apr 22, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | 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 | Apr 22, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,441,758 | this patent Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 9,215,933 | In force Jul 2027 | Jul 2027 |
| US 9,173,496 | In force Feb 2029 | Feb 2029 |
| Application PCT/US2010/048867 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 9,976,621 | In force Mar 2027 | Mar 2027 |
| US 10,226,893 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
6 of 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2005 Reel 15966, frame 516 | Coffield, Timothy P.; Ward, Joseph D.; Sommerfeld, Daniel S. | Illinois Tool Works, 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.
Citations
61
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% 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.