Term ends Nov 14, 2027 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Oct 16, 2026
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Uhlig LLC
Filed Nov 4, 2013 as application 14/071,238 · Granted Jul 5, 2016
Base term plus 394 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2006
2027
Clock starts
Oct 16, 2006
Oct 16, 2006
Term ends
Nov 14, 2027
Nov 14, 2027
Granted
Jul 5, 2016
Jul 5, 2016
base term
patent term adjustment
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
394
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 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.
3
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 394 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. 2 of 2 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 Oct 16, 2006, when application 11/581,870, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Nov 4, 2013); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Oct 16, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +394 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 14, 2027 | 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 | In force (reinstated) | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Nov 14, 2027 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,438,476 | Lapsed on the fee record May 2025 | May 2025 |
| US 8,595,618 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 9,383,957 | this patent Nov 2027 | Nov 2027 |
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.
What's changing
Nov 2027
Term ends Nov 14, 2027. No further fees fall due before then
Note
The 394 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
14
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% 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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.