Lapsed Sep 20, 2023 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 20, 2025
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Sony Corporation and Sony Electronics Inc.
Filed Sep 3, 2008 as application 12/203,378 · Granted Sep 20, 2011
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 415 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Lapsed Sep 20, 2023
2005
2026
Clock starts
Dec 20, 2005
Dec 20, 2005
No longer in force
Sep 20, 2023
Sep 20, 2023
Granted
Sep 20, 2011
Sep 20, 2011
Term would have run to
Dec 4, 2026
Dec 4, 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
415
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 7,466,367.
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.
3
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 4, 2026: its 20-year base term plus 415 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 20, 2005, when application 11/314,920, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 3, 2008) | Dec 20, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +415 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Feb 8, 2027 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,466,367) | capped to Dec 4, 2026 | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Sep 20, 2023 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Sep 20, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,466,367 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| Application PCT/US2006/043934 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,023,048 | this patent Sep 2023 | Sep 2023 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2008 reel/frame not recorded | Dacosta, Behram Mario | Sony Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 3, 2008 reel/frame not recorded | Dacosta, Behram Mario | Sony Electronics Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 3, 2008 Reel 21474, frame 975 | Dacosta, Behram Mario | Sony Corporation; Sony Electronics Inc. | 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 415 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 7,466,367.
Citations
5
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.