Lapsed May 14, 2025 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ends Dec 22, 2030
Why Medium: The disclaimer's references carry disclaimers of their own not yet read (US 8,518,069), so the cap could be lower.
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Ulthera, Inc.
Filed Dec 22, 2010 as application 12/975,966 · Granted May 14, 2013
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 11 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Lapsed May 14, 2025
2010
2030
Clock starts
Dec 22, 2010
Dec 22, 2010
No longer in force
May 14, 2025
May 14, 2025
Granted
May 14, 2013
May 14, 2013
Term would have run to
Jul 17, 2027
Jul 17, 2027
base term
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
11
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Capped
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 8,518,069, US 9,486,274.
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.
5
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 Jul 17, 2027: its 20-year base term plus 11 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 Dec 22, 2010, when this application, 12/975,966, was filed | Dec 22, 2030 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +11 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 2, 2031 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 8,518,069, US 9,486,274) | capped to Jul 17, 2027 | Medium confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed May 14, 2025 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | May 14, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,439,940 | this patent May 2025 | May 2025 |
| Application PCT/US2011/062449 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 9,039,722 | In force Jul 2027 | Jul 2027 |
| US 10,220,122 | In force Jul 2027 | Jul 2027 |
| US 11,213,618 | Lapsed on the fee record Jan 2026 | Jan 2026 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 18, 2011 Reel 25652, frame 172 | Chomas, James E.; Merchant, Adnan I.; Clark, Robert L., III; Brian, Ben F., III | Cabochon Aesthetics, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 30, 2014 Reel 32795, frame 126 | Cabochon Aesthetics, Inc. | Ulthera, Inc. | Merger |
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 11 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Disclaimer cap
This term is capped by a terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 8,518,069, US 9,486,274.
Citations
112
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
Computed patent terms end on the dates shown. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.