Term ended Nov 9, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 14, 2026
Filed Apr 14, 2006 as application 11/404,446 · Granted May 5, 2009
Base term plus 209 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Nov 9, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Apr 14, 2006
Apr 14, 2006
Term ended
Nov 9, 2026
Nov 9, 2026
Granted
May 5, 2009
May 5, 2009
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
209
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.
28
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 209 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 Apr 14, 2006, when this application, 11/404,446, was filed | Apr 14, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +209 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 9, 2026 | 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 | Nov 9, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,528,457 | this patent Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 7,456,029 | In force Mar 2027 | Mar 2027 |
| US 7,595,520 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 8,133,439 | In force Oct 2028 | Oct 2028 |
| US 7,838,436 | In force Oct 2028 | Oct 2028 |
| US 7,672,093 | In force Jun 2028 | Jun 2028 |
| US 7,508,042 | In force Jan 2027 | Jan 2027 |
| US 7,598,579 | In force May 2027 | May 2027 |
8 of 28 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 9, 2006 Reel 17589, frame 927 | Horng, Cheng T; Wang, Hui-chuan; Li, Min; Tong, Ru-ying; Zhao, Tong; Guo, Yimin | Magic Technologies, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 9, 2014 Reel 31956, frame 645 | Magic Technologies, Inc. | Headway Technologies, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 25, 2019 Reel 48692, frame 917 | Headway Technologies, Inc. | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. | 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 209 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
61
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2009 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.