Term ended Oct 6, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Jul 18, 2023
Held by Audi AG
Filed Jul 18, 2003 as application 10/623,286 · Granted Mar 22, 2011
Base term plus 1953 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Term ended Oct 6, 2025
2003
2026
Clock starts
Jul 18, 2003
Jul 18, 2003
Term ended
Oct 6, 2025
Oct 6, 2025
Granted
Mar 22, 2011
Mar 22, 2011
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
1,953
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 7,467,084.
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.
23
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 1953 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 Jul 18, 2003, when this application, 10/623,286, was filed | Jul 18, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1953 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 21, 2028 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,467,084) | capped to Oct 6, 2025 | 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 | Oct 6, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,467,084 | Lapsed on the fee record Dec 2020 | Dec 2020 |
| Application 10/414,361 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,912,228 | this patent Oct 2025 | Oct 2025 |
| US 7,725,539 | In force Jan 2027 | Jan 2027 |
| US 8,094,127 | In force Jul 2027 | Jul 2027 |
| US 8,848,938 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 9,200,908 | In force Oct 2028 | Oct 2028 |
| US 9,108,513 | In force Mar 2031 | Mar 2031 |
8 of 23 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, 2003 Reel 14792, frame 84 | Finn, Brian Michael; Steenhagen, Shawn K. | Volkswagen AG | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 29, 2010 Reel 23874, frame 614 | Volkswagen AG | Audi AG | 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 1953 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 7,467,084.
Citations
0
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2011 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.