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US

Devices and Methods for Introducing Elements into Tissue

US 8,864,822 Lapsed on the fee record
OverviewFamilyAssignmentsSources & methods

Also listed on Mitralign, Inc., an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.

Lapsed Oct 21, 2026 on the fee record · Low confidence

Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended. The USPTO has not yet posted the lapse.

Filed Mar 13, 2007 as application 11/685,242 · Granted Oct 21, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 1516 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Oct 21, 2026
2004 2028
Clock starts
Sep 24, 2004
No longer in force
Oct 21, 2026
Granted
Oct 21, 2014
Term would have run to
Nov 18, 2028
base term patent term adjustment 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
1,516
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.
14
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 Nov 18, 2028: its 20-year base term plus 1516 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: Low. 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.
StepInputDate after this stepConfidence
Base term, 20 years from filingClock starts Sep 24, 2004, when the earliest non-provisional application in its chain was filed (this one was filed Mar 13, 2007); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row)Sep 24, 2024High confidence
Continuity chainA parent in the chain could not be resolveddated from this application's own claimMedium confidence
Patent term adjustment+1516 days, USPTO patent term adjustment recordNov 18, 2028High confidence
Terminal disclaimer capNone on recordno cap appliedHigh confidence
Patent term extensionNone on fileno changeHigh confidence
Fee eventsNo fee event states this; the fee state is read from the payments the fee record holds; the fee record shows no payment for this window, and USPTO's status still reads "Patented Case"lapsed Oct 21, 2026Low confidence
Computed term endThe steps above, in orderOct 21, 2026Low confidence

This family

US 8,460,371Term ended
Feb 2026
Feb 2026
US 8,979,923Lapsed on the fee record
Mar 2023
Mar 2023
Application 10/949,412Abandoned
not computed
not computed
Application 11/685,240Abandoned
not computed
not computed
US 8,864,822this patent
Oct 2026
Oct 2026
US 8,845,723Lapsed on the fee record
Sep 2026
Sep 2026
Application 11/685,241Abandoned
not computed
not computed
US 8,911,461In force
Mar 2031
Mar 2031
8 of 14 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.
RecordedAssignorAssigneeConveyance
Jun 28, 2007
Reel 19496, frame 672
Spence, Paul A.; Baim, Donald S.; McNamara, Edward I.; Sugimoto, Hiroatsu; Call, Aaron M.; Cahalane, Steven D.; Maguire, Mark; Morrill, Richard J.Mitralign, Inc.Assignment of Assignor's Interest
Sep 20, 2012
Reel 28992, frame 635
General Electric Capital CorporationMitralign Inc.Release of Security Interest
Jan 5, 2015
Reel 34635, frame 173
Mitralign, Inc.General Electric Capital CorporationSecurity Interest
Nov 18, 2015
Reel 37146, frame 250
General Electric Capital Corporation, Retiring AgentHealthcare Financial Solutions, LLC, Successor AgentAssignment of Intellectual Property Security Interest
May 24, 2016
Reel 38806, frame 390
Healthcare Financial Solutions, LLC, as Retiring AgentSolar Capital Ltd., as Successor AgentAssignment of Intellectual Property Security Agreement
Apr 19, 2019
Reel 48941, frame 323
Mitralign, Inc.Edwards Lifesciences CorporationAssignment of Assignor's Interest
May 31, 2019
Reel 49329, frame 183
Solar Capital Ltd.Mitralign, Inc.Release of Security Interest

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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