Term ends no later than Oct 3, 2031 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ends Dec 23, 2030
In force on USPTO's status record and by its fee record. A terminal disclaimer on file may shorten this term, possibly to a date already past; its reference document is unresolved, so the date above is an upper bound and no earlier date is guessed.
Held by Nanotek Instruments Group, LLC
Filed Dec 23, 2010 as application 12/928,927 · Granted Oct 20, 2015
Base term plus 284 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2010
2031
Clock starts
Dec 23, 2010
Dec 23, 2010
Ends no later than
Oct 3, 2031
Oct 3, 2031
Granted
Oct 20, 2015
Oct 20, 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
284
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
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.
8
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 284 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 2 of 3 maintenance fees are paid so far. 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 Dec 23, 2010, when this application, 12/928,927, was filed | Dec 23, 2030 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +284 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Oct 3, 2031 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | Medium 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 | no later than Oct 3, 2031 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 9,166,252 | this patent no later than Oct 2031 | no later than Oct 2031 |
| US 8,859,143 | In force Oct 2032 | Oct 2032 |
| US 8,889,298 | In force Nov 2032 | Nov 2032 |
| Application PCT/US2011/064827 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 10,326,168 | In force Aug 2033 | Aug 2033 |
| US 11,038,205 | Lapsed on the fee record Jun 2025 | Jun 2025 |
| US 10,770,755 | In force Jan 2031 | Jan 2031 |
| US 11,189,859 | In force Jan 2031 | Jan 2031 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2013 Reel 30429, frame 372 | Zhamu, Aruna; Liu, Chenguang; Jang, Bor Z.; Neff, David N. | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 16, 2015 Reel 34733, frame 314 | Zhamu, Aruna; Jang, Bor Z.; Liu, Chenguang; Neff, David | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 13, 2016 Reel 38428, frame 440 | Liu, Chenguang | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 18, 2016 Reel 38454, frame 993 | Liu, Chenguang | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 19, 2016 Reel 38463, frame 95 | Zhamu, Aruna | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 19, 2016 Reel 38464, frame 403 | Jang, Bor Z. | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 17, 2019 Reel 49784, frame 650 | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Global Graphene Group, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 18, 2019 Reel 49787, frame 643 | Nanotek Instruments, Inc. | Nanotek Instruments Group, LLC | 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 2031
Term ends no later than Oct 3, 2031. Maintenance fees still fall due before then
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 284 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than Oct 3, 2031. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
19
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
This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. 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.