Term ended Jan 5, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Sep 3, 2024
Held by Hitachi Energy Ltd.
Filed Dec 8, 2006 as application 11/635,929 · Granted Sep 14, 2010
Base term plus 489 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Jan 5, 2026
2004
2026
Clock starts
Sep 3, 2004
Sep 3, 2004
Term ended
Jan 5, 2026
Jan 5, 2026
Granted
Sep 14, 2010
Sep 14, 2010
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
489
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.
6
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 489 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. Confidence: High. 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 Sep 3, 2004, when application 10/933,535, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 8, 2006) | Sep 3, 2024 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +489 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 5, 2026 | 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 | Jan 5, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,263,672 | Term ended Aug 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| US 8,621,117 | In force Mar 2031 | Mar 2031 |
| Application PCT/US2005/031268 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2005/043089 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,797,661 | this patent Jan 2026 | Jan 2026 |
| US 7,694,259 | Lapsed on the fee record Apr 2022 | Apr 2022 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 8, 2008 Reel 20481, frame 145 | Cox, David N.; Lanoue, Thomas J. | ABB Technology AG | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Feb 8, 2008 Reel 20481, frame 257 | ABB Technology AG | ABB Research AG | Nunc Pro Tunc Assignment |
| Dec 26, 2019 Reel 51419, frame 309 | ABB Research Ltd. | ABB Schweiz AG | Merger |
| Mar 6, 2020 Reel 52916, frame 1 | ABB Schweiz AG | ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 31, 2021 Reel 58666, frame 540 | ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG | Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG | Change of Name |
| Sep 9, 2022 Reel 61405, frame 45 | ABB Research AG | ABB Schweiz AG | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Conveying Party "Abb Research Ltd" Should Read "Abb Reasearch Ag" Previously Recorded at Reel: 051419 Frame: 0309. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Merger. |
| Nov 13, 2023 Reel 65549, frame 576 | Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG | Hitachi Energy Ltd. | Merger |
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 489 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
8
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median 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.