Lapsed Aug 15, 2025 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Aug 20, 2024
Why Medium: A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) with no resolved reference, so the term may end earlier.
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by Nucletron Operations B.V.
Filed Jan 10, 2012 as application 13/347,225 · Granted Aug 15, 2017
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 747 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Aug 15, 2025
2004
2026
Clock starts
Aug 20, 2004
Aug 20, 2004
No longer in force
Aug 15, 2025
Aug 15, 2025
Granted
Aug 15, 2017
Aug 15, 2017
Term would have run to
Sep 6, 2026
Sep 6, 2026
base term
patent term adjustment
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
747
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.
1 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.
Its term would have run to Sep 6, 2026: its 20-year base term plus 747 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 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 Aug 20, 2004, when application 10/921,896, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jan 10, 2012) | Aug 20, 2024 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +747 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 6, 2026 | 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 | 1 of 2 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Aug 15, 2025 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Aug 15, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,105,238 | In force Jun 2027 | Jun 2027 |
| US 9,730,608 | this patent Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| US 10,806,369 | Term ended no later than Mar 2026 | no later than Mar 2026 |
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 12, 2012 Reel 28539, frame 494 | Nucletron B.V. | Nucletron Operations B.V. | 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
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 747 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 Aug 15, 2025. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
3
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median 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.