Term ends Dec 21, 2030 · Low confidence
20-year base term ends Dec 21, 2030
Grace period ended Oct 28, 2026 · no payment on record as of the Nov 10, 2026 fee file · lapse expected
Held by Ethris GmbH
Filed Sep 5, 2012 as application 13/518,318 · Granted Oct 28, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
2010
2030
Clock starts
Dec 21, 2010
Dec 21, 2010
Term ends
Dec 21, 2030
Dec 21, 2030
Granted
Oct 28, 2014
Oct 28, 2014
base term
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
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.
5
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 is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. 2 of 3 maintenance fees are paid so far. Confidence: Low: the grace period for its third maintenance fee ended Oct 28, 2026 with no payment on record. 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 21, 2010, when application PCT/EP2010/007846, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 5, 2012) | Dec 21, 2030 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | 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 | No 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"; the grace period ended with no payment on record in the fee file | grace period ended Oct 28, 2026 | Low confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Dec 21, 2030 | Low confidence |
This family
| US 8,871,230 | this patent Dec 2030 | Dec 2030 |
| US 9,555,122 | In force no later than Dec 2030 | no later than Dec 2030 |
| US 10,080,804 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 10,583,195 | In force Dec 2030 | Dec 2030 |
4 of 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 2012 Reel 28899, frame 811 | Rudolph, Carsten; Geiger, Johannes-peter | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 8, 2012 Reel 29091, frame 620 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen | Ethris GmbH | Assignment of Assignor's 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.
What's changing
Oct 28
Grace period ended Oct 28, 2026 with no payment on record. The term ends early once USPTO posts the lapse
Dec 2030
Term ends Dec 21, 2030.
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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.