Also listed on Unizeo Co., Ltd., an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.
Term ends Jun 1, 2032 · High confidence
20-year base term ends Jan 17, 2032
Filed Sep 10, 2013 as application 13/979,670 · Granted Aug 18, 2015
Base term plus 136 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2012
2032
Clock starts
Jan 17, 2012
Jan 17, 2012
Term ends
Jun 1, 2032
Jun 1, 2032
Granted
Aug 18, 2015
Aug 18, 2015
base term
patent term adjustment
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
136
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.
2
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 runs 136 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. 2 of 3 maintenance fees are paid so far. 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 Jan 17, 2012, when application PCT/JP2012/050778, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 10, 2013) | Jan 17, 2032 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +136 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jun 1, 2032 | 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 | In force | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jun 1, 2032 | High confidence |
This family
| US 9,108,187 | this patent Jun 2032 | Jun 2032 |
1 of 2 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 10, 2013 reel/frame not recorded | Elangovan, Shanmugam Palani; Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Ogura, Masaru | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 10, 2013 reel/frame not recorded | Elangovan, Shanmugam Palani; Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Ogura, Masaru | The University of Tokyo | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 10, 2013 Reel 31174, frame 674 | Ogura, Masaru; Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Elangovan, Shanmugam Palani | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.; The University of Tokyo | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 6, 2014 Reel 32369, frame 28 | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 23, 2018 reel/frame not recorded | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 23, 2018 reel/frame not recorded | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | The University of Tokyo | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 23, 2018 Reel 45127, frame 9 | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.; The University of Tokyo | 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Jun 2032
Term ends Jun 1, 2032. Maintenance fees still fall due before then
Note
The 136 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
11
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median 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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.