Term ended Apr 2, 2022 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended May 26, 2024
Why Medium: The disclaimer's references carry disclaimers of their own not yet read (US 7,188,143, US 7,188,153), so the cap could be lower.
Held by Meta Platforms, Inc.
Filed Mar 26, 2010 as application 12/748,118 · Granted Jul 10, 2012
Base term plus 251 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Term ended Apr 2, 2022
2004
2026
Clock starts
May 26, 2004
May 26, 2004
Term ended
Apr 2, 2022
Apr 2, 2022
Granted
Jul 10, 2012
Jul 10, 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
251
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Capped
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,188,143, US 7,188,153.
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.
26
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 251 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 May 26, 2004, when application 10/854,057, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 26, 2010) | May 26, 2024 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +251 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Feb 1, 2025 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,188,143, US 7,188,153) | capped to Apr 2, 2022 | 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 | Apr 2, 2022 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,010,458 | Term ended Jun 2023 | Jun 2023 |
| US 7,478,078 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
| US 10,373,173 | In force Mar 2033 | Mar 2033 |
| US 7,788,260 | Term ended Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| US 8,219,500 | this patent Apr 2022 | Apr 2022 |
| US 7,890,501 | Term ended no later than Jun 2024 | no later than Jun 2024 |
| US 8,949,261 | Term ended Jun 2024 | Jun 2024 |
| US 8,874,556 | Term ended no later than Jun 2024 | no later than Jun 2024 |
8 of 26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 7, 2010 Reel 24492, frame 139 | Friendster, Inc. | Facebook, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Aug 24, 2010 Reel 24878, frame 801 | Friendster, Inc. | Facebook, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 20, 2021 Reel 58553, frame 802 | Facebook, Inc. | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Change of Name |
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.
What's changing
Note
The 251 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Disclaimer cap
This term is capped by a terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,188,143, US 7,188,153.
Citations
68
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.