Term ended Dec 20, 2025 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Sep 24, 2023
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Orange
Filed Feb 23, 2009 as application 12/391,203 · Granted Jan 1, 2013
Base term plus 818 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Dec 20, 2025
2003
2026
Clock starts
Sep 24, 2003
Sep 24, 2003
Term ended
Dec 20, 2025
Dec 20, 2025
Granted
Jan 1, 2013
Jan 1, 2013
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
818
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,496,068, to Dec 20, 2025. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
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 818 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 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 Sep 24, 2003, when application PCT/GB2003/004160, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Feb 23, 2009); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Sep 24, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +818 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Dec 20, 2025 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,496,068) | resolves to Dec 20, 2025, no earlier than this term, so no change | 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 | Dec 20, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,496,068 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 8,345,606 | this patent Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| Application 13/689,576 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 9,929,952 | Term ended Jul 2024 | Jul 2024 |
4 of 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 7, 2012 Reel 28919, frame 811 | Chen, Xiaobao | Orange S.A. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 16, 2014 Reel 32687, frame 360 | Orange S.A. | France Telecom | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 16, 2014 Reel 32687, frame 545 | France Telecom | Orange | 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
The 818 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,496,068, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
4
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2013 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.