Term ended Aug 24, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Aug 24, 2025
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Mar 18, 2009 as application 12/406,793 · Granted Dec 21, 2010
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Aug 24, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Aug 24, 2005
Aug 24, 2005
Term ended
Aug 24, 2025
Aug 24, 2025
Granted
Dec 21, 2010
Dec 21, 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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,536,565, to Aug 24, 2025. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
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.
12
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 is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 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 Aug 24, 2005, when application 11/212,555, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 18, 2009) | Aug 24, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,536,565) | resolves to Aug 24, 2025, no earlier than this term, so no change | 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 | Aug 24, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,536,565 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| US 7,593,782 | In force Oct 2027 | Oct 2027 |
| Application PCT/US2005/046797 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,889,497 | In force Aug 2027 | Aug 2027 |
| Application 11/830,476 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,865,745 | Lapsed on the fee record Jan 2023 | Jan 2023 |
| US 7,856,564 | this patent Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| US 8,259,444 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2024 | Sep 2024 |
8 of 12 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,536,565, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
263
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.