Term ended no later than May 17, 2026 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 29, 2025
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Apr 28, 2010 as application 12/769,375 · Granted Feb 21, 2012
Base term plus 139 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Ended no later than May 17, 2026
2005
2026
Clock starts
Dec 29, 2005
Dec 29, 2005
Ended no later than
May 17, 2026
May 17, 2026
Granted
Feb 21, 2012
Feb 21, 2012
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
139
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
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 runs 139 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 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 Dec 29, 2005, when application 11/321,917, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 28, 2010) | Dec 29, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +139 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | May 17, 2026 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | 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 | no later than May 17, 2026 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,560,068 | In force Jan 2027 | Jan 2027 |
| US 7,731,488 | Term ended Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| US 8,119,062 | this patent no later than May 2026 | no later than May 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.
What's changing
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 139 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than May 17, 2026. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
0
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
This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.