Collateral for a security interest recorded Sep 24, 2012 (U.S. Bank National Association).
Term ended Feb 13, 2021 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Jul 23, 2018
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Held by Universal Electronics Inc.
Filed May 20, 2002 as application 10/151,635 · Granted May 15, 2007
Base term plus 936 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Feb 13, 2021
1998
2026
Clock starts
Jul 23, 1998
Jul 23, 1998
Term ended
Feb 13, 2021
Feb 13, 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
936
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.
84
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 936 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 Jul 23, 1998, when application 09/121,229, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 20, 2002); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Jul 23, 2018 | 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 | +936 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Feb 13, 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 | Feb 13, 2021 | Medium confidence |
This family
| Application 09/905,423 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 6,938,101 | Term ended Jul 2023 | Jul 2023 |
| US 7,218,243 | this patent Feb 2021 | Feb 2021 |
| US 7,093,003 | Term ended Sep 2023 | Sep 2023 |
| Application 10/287,389 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,063,923 | Term ended Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| US 7,831,930 | In force Sep 2028 | Sep 2028 |
| US 7,046,161 | Term ended Nov 2018 | Nov 2018 |
8 of 84 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 2002 Reel 12921, frame 606 | Hayes, Patrick H.; Conway, James N., JR.; Lilleness, Robert P.; Arling, Paul D. | Universal Electronics Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 24, 2012 Reel 29010, frame 735 | Universal Electronics Inc. | U.S. Bank National Association, as Administrative Agent | Security Agreement |
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.
What's changing
Note
The 936 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
86
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.