Term ended Dec 23, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 8, 2023
Held by Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Filed Dec 8, 2003 as application 10/731,316 · Granted Jan 19, 2010
Base term plus 746 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Dec 23, 2025
2003
2026
Clock starts
Dec 8, 2003
Dec 8, 2003
Term ended
Dec 23, 2025
Dec 23, 2025
Granted
Jan 19, 2010
Jan 19, 2010
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
746
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.
62
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 746 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 Dec 8, 2003, when this application, 10/731,316, was filed | Dec 8, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +746 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Dec 23, 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 | Dec 23, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,648,678 | this patent Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| Application PCT/US2003/040974 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2003/040518 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2003/040520 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2003/040591 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application 10/741,628 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application PCT/US2003/040519 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2003/040880 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 62 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 8, 2003 Reel 14784, frame 824 | Favuzzi, John; Guggenheimer, Benno; Rau, Jeff; Key, Marc; Lathrop, Robert; Welcher, Rosanne | Dakocytomation Denmark A/S | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 30, 2005 Reel 17080, frame 733 | Dakocytomation Denmark A/S | Dako Denmark A/S | Change of Name |
| Feb 26, 2020 Reel 52025, frame 150 | Dako Denmark A/S | Dako Denmark APS | Change of Name |
| Feb 26, 2020 Reel 52026, frame 643 | Dako Denmark APS | Agilent Technologies, 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 746 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
155
later US patents cite this one
That is top 5% of utility patents granted in 2010 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.