Term ends Jan 26, 2027 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Oct 18, 2025
Filed Feb 21, 2007 as application 11/677,541 · Granted Jul 31, 2012
Base term plus 465 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2005
2027
Clock starts
Oct 18, 2005
Oct 18, 2005
Term ends
Jan 26, 2027
Jan 26, 2027
Granted
Jul 31, 2012
Jul 31, 2012
base term
patent term adjustment
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
465
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.
18
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 465 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees are recorded paid; no more fees are due. 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 Oct 18, 2005, when application 11/253,360, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Feb 21, 2007) | Oct 18, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +465 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 26, 2027 | 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 | In force | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jan 26, 2027 | High confidence |
This family
| Application 11/253,360 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,563,542 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 7,794,880 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| Application 11/675,308 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| Application PCT/US2007/062243 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,232,007 | this patent Jan 2027 | Jan 2027 |
| Application PCT/US2007/062518 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2007/063094 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 18 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, 2007 reel/frame not recorded | Hamwi, Andre | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S) | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 13, 2007 reel/frame not recorded | Hamwi, Andre | Universite Blaise Pascal | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 13, 2007 Reel 19556, frame 547 | Hamwi, Andre | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S); Universite Blaise Pascal | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 8, 2007 reel/frame not recorded | Yazami, Rachid | California Institute of Technology | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 8, 2007 reel/frame not recorded | Yazami, Rachid | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.) | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 8, 2007 Reel 19931, frame 181 | Yazami, Rachid | California Institute of Technology; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.) | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 29, 2014 Reel 32780, frame 300 | Darolles, Isabelle M. | California Institute of Technology | 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.
What's changing
Jan 2027
Term ends Jan 26, 2027. No further fees fall due before then
Note
The 465 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
1
later US patent cites 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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.