Term ended Aug 3, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended May 24, 2025
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Apr 16, 2009 as application 12/424,960 · Granted May 29, 2012
Base term plus 71 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Aug 3, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
May 24, 2005
May 24, 2005
Term ended
Aug 3, 2025
Aug 3, 2025
Granted
May 29, 2012
May 29, 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
71
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
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.
5
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 71 days past its 20-year base term on 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 24, 2005, when application 11/136,057, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 16, 2009) | May 24, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +71 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Aug 3, 2025 | 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 | Aug 3, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,528,040 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| Application PCT/US2006/009493 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,188,483 | this patent Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| US 8,859,366 | Term ended no later than Jul 2025 | no later than Jul 2025 |
| US 9,142,663 | Term ended May 2025 | May 2025 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2, 2013 Reel 30129, frame 507 | Cree Inc.; Cree, Inc. | Usaf | Confirmatory License |
| Jun 30, 2023 Reel 64185, frame 755 | Wolfspeed, Inc. | U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association | Security Interest |
| Sep 30, 2025 Reel 72989, frame 1 | U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association, as Collateral Agent | Wolfspeed, Inc. | Release of Security Interest in Intellectual Property Collateral at Reel/Frame No. 64185/0755 |
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 71 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
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.