Lapsed Oct 27, 2021 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 4, 2023
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC
Filed May 6, 2004 as application 10/493,219 · Granted Oct 27, 2009
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 704 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Oct 27, 2021
2003
2026
Clock starts
Mar 4, 2003
Mar 4, 2003
No longer in force
Oct 27, 2021
Oct 27, 2021
Granted
Oct 27, 2009
Oct 27, 2009
Term would have run to
Feb 5, 2025
Feb 5, 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
704
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.
204
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 Feb 5, 2025: its 20-year base term plus 704 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.
| Step | Input | Date after this step | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base term, 20 years from filing | Clock starts Mar 4, 2003, when application PCT/JP2003/002463, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 6, 2004) | Mar 4, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +704 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Feb 5, 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 | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Oct 27, 2021 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Oct 27, 2021 | 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 | Term ended Oct 2025 | Oct 2025 |
| US 7,610,630 | this patent 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2004 Reel 15823, frame 369 | Ji, Ming; Huang, Zhongyang; Shen, Sheng Mei; Senoh, Takanori | 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 |
| May 27, 2014 Reel 33033, frame 163 | Panasonic Corporation | Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 31, 2018 Reel 47914, frame 784 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America | Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 13, 2024 Reel 66796, frame 262 | Citibank N.a., As Administrative Agent | Applied Medical Resources Corporation | Release of Security 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.
What's changing
Note
The 704 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
4
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median 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.