Lapsed Dec 25, 2024 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Sep 28, 2021
Why Medium: A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) with no resolved reference, so the term may end earlier.
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Meta Platforms, Inc.
Filed Jun 28, 2002 as application 10/184,588 · Granted Dec 25, 2012
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 1465 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Dec 25, 2024
2001
2026
Clock starts
Sep 28, 2001
Sep 28, 2001
No longer in force
Dec 25, 2024
Dec 25, 2024
Granted
Dec 25, 2012
Dec 25, 2012
Term would have run to
Oct 2, 2025
Oct 2, 2025
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
1,465
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
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.
45
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 Oct 2, 2025: its 20-year base term plus 1465 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 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 Sep 28, 2001, when application 09/966,703, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jun 28, 2002) | Sep 28, 2021 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1465 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Oct 2, 2025 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | Medium confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Dec 25, 2024 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Dec 25, 2024 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,313,617 | Term ended Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
| US 7,007,085 | Term ended Jan 2023 | Jan 2023 |
| US 8,341,018 | this patent Dec 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Application 10/184,670 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,272,633 | Term ended Aug 2023 | Aug 2023 |
| Application PCT/US2002/031172 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2002/031174 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2002/031171 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 45 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 28, 2002 Reel 13057, frame 883 | Malik, Dale W. | BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 9, 2002 Reel 13374, frame 311 | Anderson, Richard A. | BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 11, 2013 Reel 31755, frame 841 | AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32004, frame 872 | AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Facebook, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 433 | BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation | AT&T Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 483 | AT&T Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T BLS Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Jan 20, 2014 Reel 32092, frame 504 | AT&T BLS Intellectual Property, Inc. | AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Dec 20, 2021 Reel 58961, frame 436 | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 1465 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than Dec 25, 2024. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
37
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% 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.