Term ended Sep 30, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Sep 30, 2025
Filed Jun 13, 2006 as application 11/452,848 · Granted Sep 8, 2015
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Sep 30, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Sep 30, 2005
Sep 30, 2005
Term ended
Sep 30, 2025
Sep 30, 2025
Granted
Sep 8, 2015
Sep 8, 2015
base term
after the term ends
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 9,195,991, to Sep 30, 2025. 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.
25
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 Sep 30, 2005, when application 11/241,229, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jun 13, 2006) | Sep 30, 2025 | 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 9,195,991) | resolves to Sep 30, 2025, 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 | Sep 30, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,171,480 | Term ended no later than Jan 2022 | no later than Jan 2022 |
| US 7,761,328 | Term ended Oct 2023 | Oct 2023 |
| US 8,574,074 | In force Sep 2030 | Sep 2030 |
| Application 11/354,140 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,401,151 | Term ended Jan 2021 | Jan 2021 |
| US 7,895,076 | Term ended Aug 2019 | Aug 2019 |
| US 9,129,301 | this patent Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| US 8,626,584 | In force Aug 2029 | Aug 2029 |
8 of 25 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 13, 2006 Reel 17998, frame 837 | Van Datta, Glen; Poulin, Marty | Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 9, 2010 Reel 25406, frame 506 | Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. | Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC | Merger |
| May 5, 2016 Reel 38617, frame 474 | Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC | Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC | Change of Name |
| Mar 30, 2020 Reel 53323, frame 567 | Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC | Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC | Merger |
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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 9,195,991, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
27
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.