Term ended Jul 8, 2025 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Jul 8, 2025
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Saturn Licensing LLC
Filed Jan 22, 2010 as application 12/656,268 · Granted Feb 7, 2012
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Jul 8, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Jul 8, 2005
Jul 8, 2005
Term ended
Jul 8, 2025
Jul 8, 2025
Granted
Feb 7, 2012
Feb 7, 2012
base term
after the term ends
fee events
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 15, 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 7,675,249, to Jul 8, 2025. 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.
3
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 Jul 8, 2005, when application PCT/JP2005/012686, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jan 22, 2010); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Jul 8, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,675,249) | resolves to Jul 8, 2025, 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 8, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,675,249 | In force Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| US 8,111,020 | this patent Jul 2025 | Jul 2025 |
2 of 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 13, 2017 Reel 43177, frame 794 | Sony Corporation | Saturn Licensing LLC | 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 7,675,249, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
2
later US patents cite this one
That is below 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.