Term ended no later than Apr 5, 2025 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Aug 31, 2024
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on Jan 12, 2026.
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Aug 18, 2011 as application 13/212,854 · Granted Dec 10, 2013
Base term plus 217 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Ended no later than Apr 5, 2025
2004
2026
Clock starts
Aug 31, 2004
Aug 31, 2004
Ended no later than
Apr 5, 2025
Apr 5, 2025
Granted
Dec 10, 2013
Dec 10, 2013
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
217
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 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
4
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 217 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. 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 Aug 31, 2004, when application PCT/CN2004/001007, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Aug 18, 2011) | Aug 31, 2024 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +217 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Apr 5, 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 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on Jan 12, 2026, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | no later than Apr 5, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,706,370 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 8,102,856 | Term ended Aug 2024 | Aug 2024 |
| US 8,605,728 | this patent no later than Apr 2025 | no later than Apr 2025 |
3 of 4 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
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.
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 217 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 Apr 5, 2025. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
9
later US patents cite this one
That is above 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
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.