Term ended Jul 21, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Jul 21, 2026
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Nov 19, 2010 as application 12/950,697 · Granted Oct 25, 2011
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Jul 21, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Jul 21, 2006
Jul 21, 2006
Term ended
Jul 21, 2026
Jul 21, 2026
Granted
Oct 25, 2011
Oct 25, 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 7,837,677, to Jul 21, 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.
7
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: 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 Jul 21, 2006, when application 11/491,348, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Nov 19, 2010) | Jul 21, 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 7,837,677) | resolves to Jul 21, 2026, no earlier than this term, so no change | High 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 | Jul 21, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| Application 11/491,348 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,837,677 | Term ended Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
| US 8,043,285 | this patent Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
| US 8,852,178 | Term ended no later than Jul 2026 | no later than Jul 2026 |
| US 10,722,284 | Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2024 | Jul 2024 |
| US 11,672,587 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| US 12,539,161 | Term ended Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,837,677, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
73
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.