Lapsed Apr 18, 2025 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ends Mar 25, 2030
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by WhatsApp LLC
Filed Jul 26, 2012 as application 13/559,558 · Granted Apr 18, 2017
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 321 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Apr 18, 2025
2010
2031
Clock starts
Mar 25, 2010
Mar 25, 2010
No longer in force
Apr 18, 2025
Apr 18, 2025
Granted
Apr 18, 2017
Apr 18, 2017
Term would have run to
Feb 9, 2031
Feb 9, 2031
base term
patent term adjustment
after the term ends
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
321
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
1 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.
11
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Its term would have run to Feb 9, 2031: its 20-year base term plus 321 days of term 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 Mar 25, 2010, when application 12/732,182, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jul 26, 2012) | Mar 25, 2030 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +321 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Feb 9, 2031 | 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 | 1 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Apr 18, 2025 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Apr 18, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 8,995,965 | In force Aug 2030 | Aug 2030 |
| US 9,203,960 | In force Mar 2030 | Mar 2030 |
| US 8,923,812 | In force May 2030 | May 2030 |
| US 9,628,831 | this patent Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 9,374,457 | In force Mar 2030 | Mar 2030 |
| US 9,998,593 | Lapsed on the fee record Jun 2026 | Jun 2026 |
| US 10,136,272 | In force Mar 2030 | Mar 2030 |
| US 10,225,399 | In force Mar 2030 | Mar 2030 |
8 of 11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 26, 2012 Reel 28651, frame 783 | Koum, Jan; Acton, Brian | WhatsApp, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 3, 2021 Reel 55488, frame 767 | WhatsApp Inc. | WhatsApp LLC | Change of Name |
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.
What's changing
Note
The 321 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
18
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2017 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.