Lapsed Sep 16, 2026 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 17, 2026
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Oct 15, 2008 as application 12/285,812 · Granted Sep 16, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 991 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Sep 16, 2026
2006
2029
Clock starts
Apr 17, 2006
Apr 17, 2006
No longer in force
Sep 16, 2026
Sep 16, 2026
Granted
Sep 16, 2014
Sep 16, 2014
Term would have run to
Jan 2, 2029
Jan 2, 2029
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
991
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
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.
10
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 Jan 2, 2029: its 20-year base term plus 991 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: High. 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 Apr 17, 2006, when application 11/404,871, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Oct 15, 2008) | Apr 17, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +991 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 2, 2029 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | None on record | no cap applied | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Sep 16, 2026 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Sep 16, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 8,870,655 | In force Jan 2030 | Jan 2030 |
| US 8,267,786 | In force Oct 2030 | Oct 2030 |
| US 8,834,271 | this patent Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 9,227,142 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,044,671 | Term ended no later than Apr 2026 | no later than Apr 2026 |
| US 9,533,220 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,227,138 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,498,709 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
8 of 10 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
The 991 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
57
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.