Term ended Sep 30, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 20, 2026
Held by Zimmer GmbH
Filed Mar 20, 2006 as application 11/384,841 · Granted Aug 10, 2010
Base term plus 194 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Sep 30, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Mar 20, 2006
Mar 20, 2006
Term ended
Sep 30, 2026
Sep 30, 2026
Granted
Aug 10, 2010
Aug 10, 2010
base term
patent term adjustment
after the term ends
fee events
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 15, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
194
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.
6
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 194 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 Mar 20, 2006, when this application, 11/384,841, was filed | Mar 20, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +194 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 30, 2026 | 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 | Sep 30, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,771,433 | this patent Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 7,935,126 | Term ended no later than Mar 2026 | no later than Mar 2026 |
| US 7,740,634 | In force Oct 2027 | Oct 2027 |
| US 8,858,562 | Lapsed on the fee record Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 9,615,874 | Lapsed on the fee record Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Application 14/614,034 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 2006 Reel 17490, frame 682 | Orbay, Jorge L.; Castaneda, Javier E.; Kortenbach, Juergen A. | DePuy Products, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 24, 2013 Reel 29683, frame 912 | DePuy Products, Inc. | Biomet C.V. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 2, 2024 Reel 68233, frame 456 | Biomet C.V. | Zimmer GmbH | Nunc Pro Tunc 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 194 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
111
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.