Lapsed Nov 15, 2019 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 14, 2026
Why Medium: The disclaimer's references carry disclaimers of their own not yet read (US 7,772,485, US 7,781,673), so the cap could be lower.
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Merck Patent GmbH
Filed Jul 13, 2006 as application 11/485,708 · Granted Nov 15, 2011
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 783 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Lapsed Nov 15, 2019
2006
2027
Clock starts
Mar 14, 2006
Mar 14, 2006
No longer in force
Nov 15, 2019
Nov 15, 2019
Granted
Nov 15, 2011
Nov 15, 2011
Term would have run to
Oct 13, 2027
Oct 13, 2027
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
783
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 7,772,485, US 7,781,673.
1 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.
13
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 Oct 13, 2027: its 20-year base term plus 783 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 Mar 14, 2006, when application 11/375,643, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jul 13, 2006) | Mar 14, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +783 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | May 5, 2028 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,772,485, US 7,781,673) | capped to Oct 13, 2027 | Medium confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 1 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Nov 15, 2019 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Nov 15, 2019 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,772,485 | In force no later than Dec 2027 | no later than Dec 2027 |
| US 7,781,673 | Lapsed on the fee record Aug 2022 | Aug 2022 |
| Application PCT/US2006/027397 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,058,550 | this patent Nov 2019 | Nov 2019 |
| Application 11/486,536 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 11/601,374 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 11/643,271 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application 11/684,346 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
8 of 13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 4, 2006 Reel 18352, frame 37 | Gaudiana, Russell; Kingsborough, Richard; Shi, Xiaobo; Waller, David; Zhu, Zhengguo | Konarka Technologies, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 26, 2011 Reel 27465, frame 192 | Konarka Technologies, Inc. | Total Gas & Power USA (SAS) | Security Agreement |
| Jan 29, 2013 Reel 29717, frame 48 | Konarka Technologies, Inc. | Merck KGaA | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 29, 2013 Reel 29717, frame 65 | Merck KGaA | Merck Patent GmbH | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 783 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 7,772,485, US 7,781,673.
Citations
21
later US patents cite this one
That is above 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.