Term ended Oct 16, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Nov 19, 2023
Held by Rakuten Group, Inc.
Filed Nov 19, 2003 as application 10/716,038 · Granted Jul 21, 2009
Base term plus 697 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Oct 16, 2025
2003
2026
Clock starts
Nov 19, 2003
Nov 19, 2003
Term ended
Oct 16, 2025
Oct 16, 2025
Granted
Jul 21, 2009
Jul 21, 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
697
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.
204
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 697 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 19, 2003, when this application, 10/716,038, was filed | Nov 19, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +697 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Oct 16, 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 | Oct 16, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,839,759 | Lapsed on the fee record Nov 2018 | Nov 2018 |
| US 7,460,502 | Term ended Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 |
| US 7,564,902 | this patent Oct 2025 | Oct 2025 |
| US 7,610,630 | Lapsed on the fee record Oct 2021 | Oct 2021 |
| US 7,570,626 | Term ended Sep 2024 | Sep 2024 |
| US 7,738,774 | In force Mar 2027 | Mar 2027 |
| US 7,916,770 | Lapsed on the fee record Mar 2019 | Mar 2019 |
| US 7,916,674 | Term ended Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
8 of 204 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2003 Reel 14726, frame 152 | Sasai, Hisao; Kondo, Satoshi; Kadono, Shinya | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 21, 2008 Reel 21897, frame 624 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Panasonic Corporation | Change of Name |
| Sep 18, 2014 Reel 33762, frame 831 | Panasonic Corporation | Rakuten, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 17, 2015 Reel 37751, frame 6 | Rakuten, Inc. | Rakuten, Inc. | Change of Address |
| Dec 6, 2021 Reel 58314, frame 657 | Rakuten, Inc. | Rakuten Group, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Feb 29, 2024 Reel 68066, frame 103 | Rakuten, Inc. | Rakuten Group, Inc. | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Remove Patent Numbers 10342096;10671117; 10716375; 10716376;10795407;10795408; and 10827591 Previously Recorded at Reel: 58314 Frame: 657. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Assignment. |
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 697 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
74
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.