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Sensor for Measuring a Length or an Angle

US 7,543,488 Lapsed on the fee record
OverviewFamilyAssignmentsSources & methods

Lapsed Jun 9, 2021 on the fee record · High confidence

Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.

Filed Nov 15, 2005 as application 10/556,997 · Granted Jun 9, 2009
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 488 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Jun 9, 2021
2004 2026
Clock starts
May 10, 2004
No longer in force
Jun 9, 2021
Granted
Jun 9, 2009
Term would have run to
Sep 10, 2025
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
488
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 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.
23
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.

Its term would have run to Sep 10, 2025: its 20-year base term plus 488 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. 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.
StepInputDate after this stepConfidence
Base term, 20 years from filingClock starts May 10, 2004, when application PCT/CH2004/000281, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Nov 15, 2005)May 10, 2024High confidence
Continuity chainEvery parent in the chain resolvedno changeHigh confidence
Patent term adjustment+488 days, USPTO patent term adjustment recordSep 10, 2025High confidence
Terminal disclaimer capNone on recordno cap appliedHigh confidence
Patent term extensionNone on fileno changeHigh confidence
Fee events2 of 3 maintenance fees paidlapsed Jun 9, 2021High confidence
Computed term endThe steps above, in orderJun 9, 2021High confidence

This family

US 6,474,690Lapsed on the fee record
Nov 2014
Nov 2014
US 6,530,600Term ended
no later than May 2019
no later than May 2019
US 6,505,856Term ended
May 2019
May 2019
US 6,440,029Lapsed on the fee record
Aug 2014
Aug 2014
US 6,935,292Term ended
Mar 2022
Mar 2022
US 6,776,254Lapsed on the fee record
Aug 2016
Aug 2016
Application 10/487,903Abandoned
not computed
not computed
US 7,543,488this patent
Jun 2021
Jun 2021
8 of 23 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.
RecordedAssignorAssigneeConveyance
Nov 15, 2005
Reel 17924, frame 866
Staudenmann, Christian; Brunnschweiler, DanielThyssenkrupp Presta AG, a Corp. of LiechtensteinAssignment 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.

The Patent Finder CompaniesExpirationsCalculatorWatchlistPricing MethodologyCorrectionsLegalPrivacysupport@thepatentfinder.com Updated Nov 14, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 14, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) Part of 137 Finder · © 2026 137 Finder LLC · Sources cited