Term ended Mar 14, 2023 · Low confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 14, 2023
Reissue of US 7,041,481, which was surrendered when this reissue was granted; its term and maintenance fees continue here.
Filed Mar 30, 2012 as application 13/436,693 · Granted Jun 2, 2015
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Mar 14, 2023
2003
2026
Clock starts
Mar 14, 2003
Mar 14, 2003
Term ended
Mar 14, 2023
Mar 14, 2023
Granted
Jun 2, 2015
Jun 2, 2015
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
Three maintenance fees fall due, at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years from the original patent's grant (May 9, 2006). This counts the ones the record shows paid.
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 Mar 30, 2012); 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) | term ended | Medium confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Mar 14, 2023 | 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 | Surrendered on reissue 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 | this patent 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 18, 2012 Reel 28391, frame 620 | Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | U.S. Department of Energy | Confirmatory License |
| Mar 6, 2014 Reel 32371, frame 625 | Anderson, Brian L.; Colston, Billy W., JR.; Elkin, Chris | The Regents of the University of California | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 6, 2014 Reel 32371, frame 654 | 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
19
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2015 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.