Term ended May 27, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended May 27, 2025
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Sep 25, 2009 as application 12/567,138 · Granted Jan 24, 2012
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended May 27, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
May 27, 2005
May 27, 2005
Term ended
May 27, 2025
May 27, 2025
Granted
Jan 24, 2012
Jan 24, 2012
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.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
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.
4
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. 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 May 27, 2005, when application 11/140,165, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 25, 2009) | May 27, 2025 | 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 | None on record | no cap applied | 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 | May 27, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,613,346 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 8,103,131 | this patent May 2025 | May 2025 |
| US 8,452,128 | Term ended May 2025 | May 2025 |
| US 8,781,260 | Term ended May 2025 | May 2025 |
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.
Citations
9
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2012 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.