Term ended Dec 23, 2023 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 23, 2023
Held by The Western Union Company
Filed Dec 23, 2003 as application 10/746,557 · Granted Dec 14, 2010
Base term plus 1061 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Term ended Dec 23, 2023
2003
2026
Clock starts
Dec 23, 2003
Dec 23, 2003
Term ended
Dec 23, 2023
Dec 23, 2023
Granted
Dec 14, 2010
Dec 14, 2010
base term
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
1,061
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Capped
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 6,948,656.
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.
7
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 1061 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 23, 2003, when this application, 10/746,557, was filed | Dec 23, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1061 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 18, 2026 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 6,948,656) | capped to Dec 23, 2023 | 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, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,743,981 | In force Oct 2027 | Oct 2027 |
| US 6,948,656 | Term ended Dec 2023 | Dec 2023 |
| US 7,853,521 | this patent Dec 2023 | Dec 2023 |
| US 7,945,494 | In force Mar 2028 | Mar 2028 |
| Application PCT/US2004/041647 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,152,788 | Term ended Dec 2023 | Dec 2023 |
| US 7,500,607 | Lapsed on the fee record Mar 2021 | Mar 2021 |
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 27, 2004 Reel 14676, frame 48 | Williams, Charles | First Data Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 20, 2006 Reel 18537, frame 299 | First Data Corporation | First Data Corporation; The Western Union Company | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 20, 2006 reel/frame not recorded | First Data Corporation | First Data Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 20, 2006 reel/frame not recorded | First Data Corporation | The Western Union Company | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 31, 2007 Reel 20045, frame 165 | First Data Corporation; Cardservice International, Inc.; Fundsxpress, Inc.; Linkpoint International, Inc.; Tasq Technology, Inc.; Telecheck Services, Inc.; DW Holdings, Inc.; First Data Resources, Inc.; Intelligent Results, Inc.; Size Technologies, Inc.; Telecheck International, Inc. | Credit Suisse, Cayman Islands Branch, as Collateral Agent | Security Agreement |
| Feb 10, 2011 Reel 25787, frame 283 | First Data Corporation | The Western Union Company | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 9, 2012 Reel 29272, frame 329 | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | First Data Corporation | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 Reel 49902, frame 919 | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Cardservice International, Inc.; DW Holdings Inc.; First Data Corporation; First Data Resources, LLC; Fundsxpress, Inc.; Intelligent Results, Inc.; Linkpoint International, Inc.; Size Technologies, Inc.; Tasq Technology, Inc.; Telecheck International, Inc.; Telecheck Services, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Cardservice International, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | DW Holdings Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | First Data Corporation | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | First Data Resources, LLC | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Fundsxpress, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Intelligent Results, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Linkpoint International, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Size Technologies, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Tasq Technology, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Telecheck International, Inc. | Release of Security Interest |
| Jul 30, 2019 reel/frame not recorded | Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch | Telecheck Services, Inc. | 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 1061 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Disclaimer cap
This term is capped by a terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 6,948,656.
Citations
28
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% 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.