Term ended Jun 27, 2023 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Jun 27, 2023
Filed Dec 18, 2013 as application 14/133,233 · Granted Jul 14, 2015
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Jun 27, 2023
2003
2026
Clock starts
Jun 27, 2003
Jun 27, 2003
Term ended
Jun 27, 2023
Jun 27, 2023
Granted
Jul 14, 2015
Jul 14, 2015
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.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,177,698, to Jun 27, 2023. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
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.
7
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. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 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 Jun 27, 2003, when application 10/607,962, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 18, 2013) | Jun 27, 2023 | 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 | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,177,698) | resolves to Jun 27, 2023, no earlier than this term, so no change | 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 | Jun 27, 2023 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,177,698 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
| US 7,822,480 | In force Sep 2027 | Sep 2027 |
| US 7,904,167 | Term ended Jun 2026 | Jun 2026 |
| US 8,670,835 | Term ended no later than Dec 2023 | no later than Dec 2023 |
| US 8,655,451 | Term ended Oct 2024 | Oct 2024 |
| US 9,079,041 | this patent Jun 2023 | Jun 2023 |
| US 9,242,106 | Term ended Jul 2023 | Jul 2023 |
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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,177,698, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
31
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2015 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.