Also listed on Return Path, Inc., an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.

Collateral for a security interest recorded Apr 10, 2025 (Barclays Bank PLC).

Term ends Aug 13, 2027 · High confidence

Computed 20-year base term

Held by Validity, Inc.

Filed May 28, 2004 as application 10/856,693 · Granted Jun 28, 2011

Base term plus 1364 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)

Today

20 years from filing

Term ends Aug 13, 2027

2003 2027

Clock starts
Nov 18, 2003

Term ends
Aug 13, 2027

Granted
Jun 28, 2011

base term patent term adjustment 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

1,364

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.

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 1364 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees are recorded paid; no more fees are due. 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 Nov 18, 2003, when application 10/717,441, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 28, 2004)	Nov 18, 2023	High confidence
Continuity chain	Every parent in the chain resolved	no change	High confidence
Patent term adjustment	+1364 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record	Aug 13, 2027	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	In force	High confidence
Computed term end	The steps above, in order	Aug 13, 2027	High confidence

This family

US 7,293,065	Term ended Oct 2024	Oct 2024
US 7,970,832	this patent Aug 2027	Aug 2027

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 3, 2005 Reel 16224, frame 614	Perry, George Thomas Jr.; Flury, Andrew; Peterson, Patrick R.; Oliver, Michael	Ironport Systems, Inc.	Assignment of Assignor's Interest
May 11, 2005 Reel 16547, frame 142	Return Path, Inc.	Venture Lending & Leasing IV, Inc.	Security Interest
Aug 25, 2005 Reel 16920, frame 115	Banister, Scott; Moore, III, James	Inronport Systems, Inc.	Assignment of Assignor's Interest
Nov 19, 2007 Reel 20156, frame 534	Return Path, Inc.	Venture Lending & Leasing IV, Inc.; Venture Lending & Leasing V, Inc.	Security Agreement
Nov 19, 2007 reel/frame not recorded	Return Path, Inc.	Venture Lending & Leasing IV, Inc.	Security Agreement
Nov 19, 2007 reel/frame not recorded	Return Path, Inc.	Venture Lending & Leasing V, Inc.	Security Agreement
Jun 3, 2009 Reel 22773, frame 544	Venture Lending & Leasing IV, Inc.; Venture Lending & Leasing V, Inc.	Return Path, Inc.	Release of Security Interest
Aug 2, 2010 Reel 24774, frame 10	Ironport Systems, Inc.	Return Path, Inc.	Assignment of Assignor's Interest
Feb 26, 2013 Reel 29875, frame 334	Return Path, Inc.	Silicon Valley Bank	Security Agreement
Aug 22, 2017 Reel 43352, frame 927	Venture Lending & Leasing IV, Inc.	Return Path, Inc.	Release of Security Interest
Feb 8, 2018 Reel 44870, frame 217	Return Path, Inc.	Pacific Western Bank	Security Interest
Feb 13, 2018 Reel 44909, frame 282	Silicon Valley Bank	Return Path, Inc.	Release of Security Interest
May 30, 2019 Reel 49315, frame 256	Return Path, Inc.	Antares Capital LP, as Administrative Agent	Security Interest
Jun 7, 2019 Reel 49403, frame 74	Pacific Western Bank	Return Path, Inc.	Release of Security Interest
Feb 4, 2022 Reel 58889, frame 153	Return Path, Inc.	Validity, Inc.	Assignment of Assignor's Interest
Apr 10, 2025 Reel 70798, frame 113	Validity, Inc.	Barclays Bank PLC, as Administrative Agent	Security Interest
Apr 10, 2025 Reel 70805, frame 665	Antares Capital LP, as Administrative Agent	Validity, Inc.	Release of Security Interest
Jun 24, 2025 Reel 71730, frame 300	Validity, Inc.	Barclays Bank PLC, as Administrative Agent	Second Lien Intellectual Property 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.

What's changing

Aug 2027

Term ends Aug 13, 2027. No further fees fall due before then

Note

The 1364 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us

Citations

177

later US patents cite this one

That is top 5% of utility patents granted in 2011 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.

In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.

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