Term ended no later than Jul 16, 2025 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Jul 8, 2025
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on May 11, 2026.
Filed Apr 6, 2016 as application 15/091,947 · Granted Apr 3, 2018
Base term plus 8 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Ended no later than Jul 16, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
Jul 8, 2005
Jul 8, 2005
Ended no later than
Jul 16, 2025
Jul 16, 2025
Granted
Apr 3, 2018
Apr 3, 2018
base term
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
8
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 1
Maintenance fees paid
One maintenance fee can end this term early, the one due 3.5 years from grant; the next one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts it if the record shows it paid.
12
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 8 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. 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 Jul 8, 2005, when application 11/177,503, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 6, 2016) | Jul 8, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +8 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jul 16, 2025 | 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 1 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on May 11, 2026, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | no later than Jul 16, 2025 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,606,362 | In force Mar 2028 | Mar 2028 |
| US 8,620,436 | In force Jul 2030 | Jul 2030 |
| Application PCT/US2007/072238 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,706,238 | Lapsed on the fee record Apr 2022 | Apr 2022 |
| US 9,314,617 | Term ended Jul 2025 | Jul 2025 |
| US 9,308,371 | Term ended Jul 2025 | Jul 2025 |
| US 9,037,249 | Term ended no later than Jul 2025 | no later than Jul 2025 |
| US 9,931,502 | this patent no later than Jul 2025 | no later than Jul 2025 |
8 of 12 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. 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.
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 8 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 Jul 16, 2025. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
0
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2018 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.