Lapsed Feb 11, 2022 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Oct 16, 2025
Why Medium: A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) with no resolved reference, so the term may end earlier.
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by BT Wearables LLC
Filed Aug 24, 2008 as application 12/197,273 · Granted Feb 11, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 15 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Feb 11, 2022
2005
2026
Clock starts
Oct 16, 2005
Oct 16, 2005
No longer in force
Feb 11, 2022
Feb 11, 2022
Granted
Feb 11, 2014
Feb 11, 2014
Term would have run to
Oct 31, 2025
Oct 31, 2025
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
15
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.
1 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.
26
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 31, 2025: its 20-year base term plus 15 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 Oct 16, 2005, when application 11/252,279, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Aug 24, 2008) | Oct 16, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +15 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Oct 31, 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 | 1 of 2 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Feb 11, 2022 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Feb 11, 2022 | Medium confidence |
This family
| Application 90/016,611 | Pending not computed | not computed |
| US 7,420,472 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2020 | Sep 2020 |
| US 7,733,224 | In force Oct 2027 | Oct 2027 |
| US 8,647,268 | this patent Feb 2022 | Feb 2022 |
| US 8,525,673 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| US 8,680,991 | In force no later than Jun 2027 | no later than Jun 2027 |
| US 8,531,291 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| US 8,461,988 | Term ended no later than Nov 2025 | no later than Nov 2025 |
8 of 26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 28, 2015 Reel 35734, frame 53 | Tran, Bao | Empire IP LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 26, 2023 Reel 63452, frame 334 | Empire IP LLC | BT Wearables LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 2, 2024 Reel 66986, frame 239 | Empire IP | BT Wearables LLC | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Removing 6 Patent Numbers 7733224, 8525673,8680991, 8461988, 8531291, 9351640 Previously Recorded at Reel: 63452 Frame: 334. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the 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
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 15 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 Feb 11, 2022. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
250
later US patents cite this one
That is top 5% of utility patents granted in 2014 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.