Term ended Mar 23, 2026 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 23, 2026
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Cilag GmbH International
Filed Sep 14, 2012 as application 13/616,263 · Granted Dec 16, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Mar 23, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Mar 23, 2006
Mar 23, 2006
Term ended
Mar 23, 2026
Mar 23, 2026
Granted
Dec 16, 2014
Dec 16, 2014
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
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.
14
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. 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 Mar 23, 2006, when application 11/277,324, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 14, 2012); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Mar 23, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium 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 | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Mar 23, 2026 | Medium confidence |
This family
| Application 11/277,324 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 9,149,274 | In force Jun 2027 | Jun 2027 |
| US 8,992,422 | Term ended Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
| US 9,301,759 | In force Sep 2028 | Sep 2028 |
| Application PCT/US2012/039290 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,911,471 | this patent Mar 2026 | Mar 2026 |
| US 9,492,167 | In force Apr 2028 | Apr 2028 |
| Application 14/300,837 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
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.
| Recorded | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 29, 2012 Reel 29375, frame 136 | Spivey, James T.; Ortiz, Mark S.; Shelton, Frederick E., IV | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 6, 2015 Reel 37220, frame 212 | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Feb 27, 2017 Reel 41821, frame 186 | Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC | Ethicon LLC | Change of Name |
| Apr 27, 2021 Reel 56601, frame 339 | Ethicon LLC | Cilag GmbH International | 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
Citations
1,664
later US patents cite this one
That is top 1% 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.