Surrendered on reissue May 8, 2012 · Low confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 14, 2023
Surrendered on reissue May 8, 2012 · its term and maintenance fees continue in US RE43,365.
Reissue of US 7,041,481, which was surrendered when this reissue was granted; its term and maintenance fees continue here.
Filed May 9, 2008 as application 12/118,418 · Granted Sep 28, 2010
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Surrendered May 8, 2012
2003
2026
Clock starts
Mar 14, 2003
Mar 14, 2003
No longer in force
May 8, 2012
May 8, 2012
Granted
Sep 28, 2010
Sep 28, 2010
Term would have run to
Mar 14, 2023
Mar 14, 2023
base term
after the term ends
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
0 of 3
Maintenance fees paid
Fees paid on this patent before its reissue. Those after fall due on the reissue, which carries the term on.
56
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 is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: Low. 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 14, 2003, when application 10/389,130, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 9, 2008); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Mar 14, 2023 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A reissue: its term follows the original patent's, with the original's term adjustment; a parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Low confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | No term adjustment record on a grant after 2005, so none is added | no change | Medium confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | None on record | no cap applied | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | The reissue's fees post to its original, whose fee record is not available (likely before 2001) | no change | Medium confidence |
| Reissue | US RE43,365 issued May 8, 2012, and this patent's term continues in it (35 U.S.C. 251, 252) | surrendered May 8, 2012 | High confidence |
| Surrendered on reissue | The steps above, in order | May 8, 2012 | Low confidence |
This family
| US 7,041,481 | Surrendered on reissue Sep 2010 | Sep 2010 |
| Application 11/803,104 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US RE41,780 | this patent May 2012 | May 2012 |
| Application 12/504,764 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US RE43,365 | Term ended no later than Mar 2023 | no later than Mar 2023 |
| US 9,074,242 | In force Feb 2031 | Feb 2031 |
| US RE45,539 | Term ended Mar 2023 | Mar 2023 |
| US 9,399,797 | In force Nov 2032 | Nov 2032 |
8 of 56 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 26, 2008 Reel 21154, frame 499 | Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | Energy, U.s. Department Of | Confirmatory License |
| Jan 14, 2010 Reel 23790, frame 855 | Anderson, Brian L.; Colston, Billy W., JR.; Elkin, Chris | The Regents of the University of California | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 14, 2010 Reel 23790, frame 864 | The Regents of the University of California | Lawrence Livermore National Security 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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
Citations
340
later US patents cite this one
That is top 1% of utility patents granted in 2010 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.