Also listed on Unizeo Co., Ltd., an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.
Term ends no later than Jan 11, 2034 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ends Jun 28, 2031
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 Mitsui Kinzoku Company, Limited
Filed Mar 5, 2013 as application 13/807,080 · Granted Jun 6, 2017
Base term plus 928 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2011
2034
Clock starts
Jun 28, 2011
Jun 28, 2011
Ends no later than
Jan 11, 2034
Jan 11, 2034
Granted
Jun 6, 2017
Jun 6, 2017
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
928
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.
5
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 928 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 Jun 28, 2011, when application PCT/JP2011/064765, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 5, 2013) | Jun 28, 2031 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +928 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 11, 2034 | 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 Jan 11, 2034 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 9,670,068 | this patent no later than Jan 2034 | no later than Jan 2034 |
| Application 15/492,330 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 10,669,157 | In force Jun 2031 | Jun 2031 |
| US 10,479,692 | In force Jun 2031 | Jun 2031 |
4 of 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 2013 Reel 29922, frame 518 | Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Kamimura, Yoshihiro; Elangovan, Shanmugam P. | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.; The University of Tokyo | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 5, 2013 reel/frame not recorded | Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Kamimura, Yoshihiro; Elangovan, Shanmugam P. | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 5, 2013 reel/frame not recorded | Itabashi, Keiji; Okubo, Tatsuya; Kamimura, Yoshihiro; Elangovan, Shanmugam P. | The University of Tokyo | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 10, 2014 Reel 32392, frame 517 | Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 7, 2018 Reel 45133, frame 772 | Unizeo Co., Ltd. | Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 31, 2026 Reel 75357, frame 342 | Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company, Limited | Mitsui Kinzoku Company, Limited | 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Jan 2034
Term ends no later than Jan 11, 2034. 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 928 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 Jan 11, 2034. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
13
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
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.