Lapsed May 4, 2018 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended May 16, 2025
Why Medium: A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) with no resolved reference, so the term may end earlier.
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Google LLC
Filed May 16, 2005 as application 11/131,022 · Granted May 4, 2010
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 866 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed May 4, 2018
2005
2027
Clock starts
May 16, 2005
May 16, 2005
No longer in force
May 4, 2018
May 4, 2018
Granted
May 4, 2010
May 4, 2010
Term would have run to
Sep 29, 2027
Sep 29, 2027
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
866
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
1 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.
115
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 29, 2027: its 20-year base term plus 866 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. Confidence: Medium. 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 May 16, 2005, when this application, 11/131,022, was filed | May 16, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +866 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 29, 2027 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | Medium confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 1 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed May 4, 2018 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | May 4, 2018 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,039,684 | Term ended Sep 2022 | Sep 2022 |
| US 6,941,293 | Term ended Mar 2023 | Mar 2023 |
| Application 10/232,602 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 10/232,324 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 10/775,195 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,313,359 | Lapsed on the fee record Dec 2019 | Dec 2019 |
| US 7,711,313 | this patent May 2018 | May 2018 |
| Application 11/135,859 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
8 of 115 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 15, 2005 Reel 16903, frame 682 | Steelberg, Ryan; Steelberg, Chad | Dmarc Broadcasting, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 17, 2007 Reel 18767, frame 72 | Dmarc Broadcasting, Inc. | Google Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 21, 2016 Reel 39213, frame 183 | Google Inc. | Ring Partner Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 6, 2017 Reel 44142, frame 357 | Google Inc. | Google LLC | Change of Name |
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
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 866 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than May 4, 2018. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
7
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median 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.