Lapsed Sep 18, 2020 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 23, 2024
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Saturn Licensing LLC
Filed Dec 23, 2004 as application 11/021,038 · Granted Sep 18, 2012
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 992 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Sep 18, 2020
2004
2027
Clock starts
Dec 23, 2004
Dec 23, 2004
No longer in force
Sep 18, 2020
Sep 18, 2020
Granted
Sep 18, 2012
Sep 18, 2012
Term would have run to
Sep 11, 2027
Sep 11, 2027
base term
patent term adjustment
after the term ends
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
992
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
1 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.
60
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 11, 2027: its 20-year base term plus 992 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 Dec 23, 2004, when this application, 11/021,038, was filed | Dec 23, 2024 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +992 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 11, 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 | 1 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Sep 18, 2020 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Sep 18, 2020 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,840,644 | In force Mar 2027 | Mar 2027 |
| US 7,151,572 | Term ended no later than Sep 2021 | no later than Sep 2021 |
| US 7,212,729 | Term ended Nov 2024 | Nov 2024 |
| US 7,545,792 | Lapsed on the fee record Jun 2021 | Jun 2021 |
| US 7,835,620 | In force Feb 2027 | Feb 2027 |
| US 8,417,086 | Lapsed on the fee record Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 7,212,219 | Term ended Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 8,270,803 | this patent Sep 2020 | Sep 2020 |
8 of 60 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2005 Reel 16144, frame 242 | Ichioka, Hidetoshi; Maeda, Takaaki; Kogawa, Mutsumi; Wakai, Shinichi; Kimura, Hitoshi | Sony Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 13, 2017 Reel 43177, frame 794 | Sony Corporation | Saturn Licensing LLC | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 992 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.