Lapsed Feb 28, 2024 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended May 9, 2026
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Dec 15, 2009 as application 12/638,303 · Granted Feb 28, 2012
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 127 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Feb 28, 2024
2006
2026
Clock starts
May 9, 2006
May 9, 2006
No longer in force
Feb 28, 2024
Feb 28, 2024
Granted
Feb 28, 2012
Feb 28, 2012
Term would have run to
Sep 13, 2026
Sep 13, 2026
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
127
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
2 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.
5
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 Sep 13, 2026: its 20-year base term plus 127 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. 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 9, 2006, when application 11/430,320, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 15, 2009) | May 9, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +127 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 13, 2026 | 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 | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Feb 28, 2024 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Feb 28, 2024 | High confidence |
This family
| US 8,006,523 | In force Nov 2028 | Nov 2028 |
| US 7,673,480 | In force Nov 2028 | Nov 2028 |
| US 8,267,109 | In force Jun 2028 | Jun 2028 |
| US 7,996,979 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 8,122,548 | this patent Feb 2024 | Feb 2024 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 2013 Reel 29970, frame 598 | Group Dekko, Inc. | Wells Fargo Capital Finance, LLC, as Agent | Security Agreement |
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
The 127 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
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
Computed patent terms end on the dates shown. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.