Method and Apparatus for Improved Information Transactions

US 8,015,418 Lapsed on the fee record

Overview Sources & methods

Lapsed Sep 6, 2019 on the fee record · Medium confidence

Computed 20-year base term

Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.

Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.

Held by Ebrary, Inc.

Filed Feb 6, 2009 as application 12/367,346 · Granted Sep 6, 2011

Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 204 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)

Today

Lapsed Sep 6, 2019

2000 2026

Clock starts
Feb 4, 2000

No longer in force
Sep 6, 2019

Granted
Sep 6, 2011

Term would have run to
Aug 26, 2020

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

204

Days of term adjustment

Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.

No effect

Terminal disclaimer

Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,536,561, to Aug 26, 2020. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.

1 of 2

Maintenance fees paid

Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.

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 Feb 4, 2000, when the earliest non-provisional application in its chain was filed (this one was filed Feb 6, 2009); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row)	Feb 4, 2020	High confidence
Continuity chain	A parent in the chain could not be resolved	dated from this application's own claim	Medium confidence
Patent term adjustment	+204 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record	Aug 26, 2020	High confidence
Terminal disclaimer cap	Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,536,561)	resolves to Aug 26, 2020, no earlier than this term, so no change	High confidence
Patent term extension	None on file	no change	High confidence
Fee events	1 of 2 maintenance fees paid	lapsed Sep 6, 2019	High confidence
Computed term end	The steps above, in order	Sep 6, 2019	Medium confidence

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.

Not on this page: the patent's family, its recorded assignments and its citation count. USPTO's assignment records, linked above, list every recorded assignment.

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.

Method and Apparatus for Improved Information Transactions

Lapsed Sep 6, 2019 on the fee record · Medium confidence

20-year base term ended Feb 4, 2020

How we calculated this date

Sources