Term ended Jul 12, 2021 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 6, 2020
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Cargill, Incorporated
Filed Sep 5, 2003 as application 10/655,945 · Granted May 15, 2007
Base term plus 493 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Jul 12, 2021
2000
2026
Clock starts
Mar 6, 2000
Mar 6, 2000
Term ended
Jul 12, 2021
Jul 12, 2021
Granted
May 15, 2007
May 15, 2007
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
493
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
3 of 3
Maintenance fees paid
Three maintenance fees fall due, at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years from grant. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
28
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 493 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. 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 Mar 6, 2000, when application 09/519,812, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 5, 2003); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Mar 6, 2020 | 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 | +493 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jul 12, 2021 | 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 | 3 of 3 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jul 12, 2021 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 6,503,285 | Term ended May 2021 | May 2021 |
| US 6,645,261 | Term ended Mar 2020 | Mar 2020 |
| US 7,128,766 | Term ended May 2021 | May 2021 |
| US 6,770,104 | Term ended May 2021 | May 2021 |
| US 7,217,301 | this patent Jul 2021 | Jul 2021 |
| Application PCT/US2004/000841 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,462,205 | Term ended Dec 2022 | Dec 2022 |
| Application PCT/US2006/000822 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
8 of 28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 28, 2007 Reel 20299, frame 187 | Cargill Incorporated | Renewable Chemicals Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Feb 20, 2008 Reel 20532, frame 380 | Renewable Chemicals Corporation | Cargill, Incorporated | License |
| May 6, 2008 Reel 20897, frame 722 | Renewable Chemicals Corporation | Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Oct 27, 2014 Reel 34042, frame 523 | Richards, Michael L.; Murphy, Timothy A.; Doucette, Melinda Kae; House, Nathaniel C., III | Cargill, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jun 22, 2016 Reel 38984, frame 310 | Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. | Cargill, Incorporated | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Aug 5, 2016 Reel 39356, frame 198 | Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. | Cargill, Incorporated | 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 493 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
47
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2007 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.