Term ended no later than Mar 15, 2024 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended May 22, 2021
Held by Ekmk Limited Liability Company
Filed Mar 29, 2002 as application 10/113,969 · Granted Dec 21, 2010
Base term plus 1028 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Ended no later than Mar 15, 2024
2001
2026
Clock starts
May 22, 2001
May 22, 2001
Ended no later than
Mar 15, 2024
Mar 15, 2024
Granted
Dec 21, 2010
Dec 21, 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
1,028
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
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.
13
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 1028 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. 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 May 22, 2001, when application 09/863,456, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Mar 29, 2002) | May 22, 2021 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1028 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Mar 15, 2024 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | Medium 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 | no later than Mar 15, 2024 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 6,922,685 | Term ended Aug 2022 | Aug 2022 |
| Application 10/113,662 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,856,087 | In force no later than May 2027 | no later than May 2027 |
| US 7,401,131 | Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2016 | Jul 2016 |
| US 7,856,486 | this patent no later than Mar 2024 | no later than Mar 2024 |
| US 8,626,877 | Term ended Oct 2023 | Oct 2023 |
| Application 10/113,213 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,802,264 | Term ended Oct 2022 | Oct 2022 |
8 of 13 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 10, 2002 Reel 12883, frame 727 | Robertson, James A.; Greene, William S.; Pierret, Matthew C. | Worldcom, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 21, 2004 Reel 15154, frame 295 | Worldcom, Inc. | Mci, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Apr 10, 2007 Reel 19138, frame 149 | Mci, Inc. | Mci, LLC | Merger |
| Apr 10, 2007 Reel 19138, frame 232 | Mci, LLC | Verizon Business Global LLC | Change of Name |
| Apr 22, 2014 Reel 32734, frame 502 | Verizon Business Global LLC | Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Mar 16, 2015 Reel 35169, frame 180 | Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. | Ekmk Limited Liability Company | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 28, 2017 Reel 44626, frame 88 | Verizon Business Global LLC | Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Assignee Previously Recorded at Reel: 032734 Frame: 0502. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Assignment. |
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.
What's changing
Note
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Note
The 1028 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than Mar 15, 2024. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
45
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% 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
This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.