Lapsed Apr 12, 2023 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Oct 3, 2025
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by The Procter & Gamble Company
Filed Oct 3, 2005 as application 11/242,253 · Granted Apr 12, 2011
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 408 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Apr 12, 2023
2005
2026
Clock starts
Oct 3, 2005
Oct 3, 2005
No longer in force
Apr 12, 2023
Apr 12, 2023
Granted
Apr 12, 2011
Apr 12, 2011
Term would have run to
Nov 15, 2026
Nov 15, 2026
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
408
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
2 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.
2
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 Nov 15, 2026: its 20-year base term plus 408 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. 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 Oct 3, 2005, when this application, 11/242,253, was filed | Oct 3, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +408 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 15, 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 | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Apr 12, 2023 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Apr 12, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,922,705 | this patent Apr 2023 | Apr 2023 |
| US 7,943,814 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2005 Reel 16991, frame 83 | Ampulski, Robert Stanley | The Procter & Gamble Company | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 408 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
19
later US patents cite this one
That is above 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.