Term ends no later than Mar 31, 2030 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 17, 2025
In force on USPTO's status record and by its fee record. A terminal disclaimer on file may shorten this term, possibly to a date already past; its reference document is unresolved, so the date above is an upper bound and no earlier date is guessed.
Held by Zimmer GmbH
Filed Mar 17, 2006 as application 11/378,703 · Granted Mar 12, 2013
Base term plus 1840 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2005
2030
Clock starts
Mar 17, 2005
Mar 17, 2005
Ends no later than
Mar 31, 2030
Mar 31, 2030
Granted
Mar 12, 2013
Mar 12, 2013
base term
patent term adjustment
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
1,840
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.
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.
9
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 1840 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. All three maintenance fees are recorded paid; no more fees are due. 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 Mar 17, 2005, when application 11/082,401, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 17, 2006) | Mar 17, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1840 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Mar 31, 2030 | 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 | 3 of 3 maintenance fees paid | In force | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | no later than Mar 31, 2030 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,062,296 | In force no later than Sep 2029 | no later than Sep 2029 |
| US 8,394,098 | this patent no later than Mar 2030 | no later than Mar 2030 |
| US 8,394,130 | In force Oct 2029 | Oct 2029 |
| US 7,867,261 | Lapsed on the fee record Jan 2023 | Jan 2023 |
| US 8,419,775 | In force Aug 2027 | Aug 2027 |
| US 8,747,442 | Term ended Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 9,526,543 | In force no later than Nov 2026 | no later than Nov 2026 |
| US 9,913,671 | Lapsed on the fee record Mar 2022 | Mar 2022 |
8 of 9 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 17, 2006 Reel 17496, frame 348 | Orbay, Jorge L.; Castaneda, Javier E.; Mebarek, Edward; Francese, Jose Luis; Sixto, Robert, JR. | DePuy Products, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 24, 2013 Reel 29683, frame 912 | DePuy Products, Inc. | Biomet C.V. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 2, 2024 Reel 68233, frame 456 | Biomet C.V. | Zimmer GmbH | Nunc Pro Tunc Assignment |
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
Mar 2030
Term ends no later than Mar 31, 2030. No further fees fall due before then
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 1840 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 Mar 31, 2030. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
110
later US patents cite this one
That is top 5% 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
This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. 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.