Term ended Sep 28, 2026 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended May 24, 2026
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by VB Spine LLC
Filed Dec 2, 2015 as application 14/956,844 · Granted Oct 10, 2017
Base term plus 127 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Sep 28, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
May 24, 2006
May 24, 2006
Term ended
Sep 28, 2026
Sep 28, 2026
Granted
Oct 10, 2017
Oct 10, 2017
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
127
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.
9
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 127 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. 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 May 24, 2006, when application 11/439,808, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 2, 2015); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | May 24, 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 | +127 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 28, 2026 | 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 | Sep 28, 2026 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,777,959 | In force Jun 2030 | Jun 2030 |
| US 9,095,451 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
| US 9,226,837 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
| US 9,782,272 | this patent Sep 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| US 9,622,882 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
| US 9,526,634 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
| US 10,213,322 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
| US 10,835,389 | Term ended May 2026 | May 2026 |
8 of 9 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 1, 2016 Reel 37860, frame 706 | Errico, Joseph P.; Dudasik, Michael W.; Errico, Thomas J.; Zubok, Rafail | Spinecore, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 25, 2020 Reel 53897, frame 621 | Spinecore, Inc. | Howmedica Oteonics Corp. | Merger |
| Sep 30, 2020 Reel 53941, frame 753 | Spinecore, Inc. | Howmedica Osteonics Corp. | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Assignee Name Previously Recorded at Reel: 053897 Frame: 0621. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Assignment. |
| May 8, 2025 Reel 71224, frame 768 | Howmedica Osteonics Corp. | VB Spine US Opco LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jun 16, 2025 Reel 71682, frame 116 | K2M, Inc.; VB Spine US Opco LLC; VB Spine LLC | Ankura Trust Company, LLC, as Collateral Agent | Patent Security Agreement |
| Aug 8, 2025 Reel 72340, frame 397 | K2M, Inc.; VB Spine US Opco LLC | Texas Capital Bank, As Collateral Agent | Security Interest |
| Jun 23, 2026 Reel 75812, frame 865 | VB Spine US Opco LLC | VB Spine LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
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
Note
The 127 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
1
later US patent cites 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.