Term ended Apr 17, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 17, 2026
Held by Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Filed Dec 30, 2014 as application 14/585,318 · Granted Jan 5, 2016
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Apr 17, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Apr 17, 2006
Apr 17, 2006
Term ended
Apr 17, 2026
Apr 17, 2026
Granted
Jan 5, 2016
Jan 5, 2016
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.
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.
10
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: 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 Apr 17, 2006, when application 11/404,871, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 30, 2014) | Apr 17, 2026 | 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 | 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 | Apr 17, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 8,870,655 | In force Jan 2030 | Jan 2030 |
| US 8,267,786 | In force Oct 2030 | Oct 2030 |
| US 8,834,271 | Lapsed on the fee record Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 9,227,142 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,044,671 | Term ended no later than Apr 2026 | no later than Apr 2026 |
| US 9,533,220 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,227,138 | this patent Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| US 9,498,709 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
8 of 10 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. 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.
Citations
6
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2016 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.