Term ended Feb 8, 2026 · Medium confidence

Computed 20-year base term

Why Medium: The disclaimer's references carry disclaimers of their own not yet read (US 7,734,368), so the cap could be lower.

Held by Align Technology, Inc.

Filed Dec 31, 2009 as application 12/654,762 · Granted Oct 18, 2011

Base term, 20 years from filing

Today

20 years from filing

Term ended Feb 8, 2026

2006 2026

Clock starts
Feb 8, 2006

Term ended
Feb 8, 2026

Granted
Oct 18, 2011

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 7,555,403, US 7,734,368, to Feb 8, 2026. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.

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.

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 is 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. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. Confidence: Medium. 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 Feb 8, 2006, when application 11/349,124, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 31, 2009)	Feb 8, 2026	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 7,555,403, US 7,734,368)	resolves to Feb 8, 2026, no earlier than this term, so no change	Medium 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	Feb 8, 2026	Medium confidence

This family

US 7,555,403	Term ended Nov 2026	Nov 2026
US 7,734,368	Term ended no later than Feb 2026	no later than Feb 2026
US 8,041,439	this patent Feb 2026	Feb 2026
US 8,359,115	Term ended no later than Feb 2026	no later than Feb 2026
US 8,805,563	Term ended Feb 2026	Feb 2026
US 9,186,228	Term ended Feb 2026	Feb 2026
US 9,549,794	Term ended Feb 2026	Feb 2026
US 10,143,541	Term ended Feb 2026	Feb 2026

8 of 14 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 18, 2014 Reel 34545, frame 328	Cadent Ltd.	Align Technology, 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.

Terminal disclaimer

A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,555,403, US 7,734,368, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.

Citations

later US patents cite this one

That is top 25% 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.

Method for Manipulating a Dental Virtual Model, Method for Creating Physical Entities Based on a Dental Virtual Model Thus Manipulated, and Dental Models Thus Created