Lapsed Jul 26, 2023 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 30, 2023
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Meta Platforms, Inc.
Filed Mar 11, 2010 as application 12/721,809 · Granted Jul 26, 2011
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Lapsed Jul 26, 2023
2003
2026
Clock starts
Dec 30, 2003
Dec 30, 2003
No longer in force
Jul 26, 2023
Jul 26, 2023
Granted
Jul 26, 2011
Jul 26, 2011
Term would have run to
Dec 30, 2023
Dec 30, 2023
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 7,693,944, to Dec 30, 2023. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
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.
10
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 Dec 30, 2023: 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. 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 30, 2003, when application 10/747,694, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 11, 2010) | Dec 30, 2023 | 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 7,693,944) | resolves to Dec 30, 2023, no earlier than this term, so no change | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Jul 26, 2023 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jul 26, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,644,166 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| US 7,672,439 | In force Dec 2028 | Dec 2028 |
| Application PCT/US2004/006334 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,693,944 | In force Jul 2028 | Jul 2028 |
| US 8,565,397 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
| US 7,924,996 | Lapsed on the fee record Apr 2023 | Apr 2023 |
| US 7,987,236 | this patent Jul 2023 | Jul 2023 |
| US 8,577,977 | Term ended Dec 2023 | Dec 2023 |
8 of 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 11, 2010 Reel 24067, frame 740 | Appelman, Barry; Murphy, Stephen Vaughan | America Online, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 11, 2010 Reel 24067, frame 778 | America Online, Inc. | AOL LLC | Change of Name |
| Mar 11, 2010 Reel 24067, frame 786 | AOL LLC | AOL Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 3, 2012 Reel 28487, frame 534 | AOL Inc. | Facebook, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 20, 2021 Reel 58961, frame 436 | Facebook, Inc. | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Change of Name |
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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,693,944, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
4
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.