Term ends Dec 2, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 29, 2025
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed Sep 22, 2008 as application 12/235,322 · Granted Mar 6, 2012
Base term plus 582 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2005
2026
Clock starts
Apr 29, 2005
Apr 29, 2005
Term ends
Dec 2, 2026
Dec 2, 2026
Granted
Mar 6, 2012
Mar 6, 2012
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
582
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.
8
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 582 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 Apr 29, 2005, when application 11/118,535, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Sep 22, 2008) | Apr 29, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +582 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Dec 2, 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 | In force | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Dec 2, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,828,175 | In force Mar 2027 | Mar 2027 |
| Application PCT/US2005/017423 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,127,966 | this patent Dec 2026 | Dec 2026 |
| US 8,356,730 | Term ended Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 8,590,746 | Term ended no later than Apr 2025 | no later than Apr 2025 |
| US 8,616,412 | Term ended Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| US 9,150,401 | Term ended no later than May 2025 | no later than May 2025 |
| US 10,040,043 | Term ended May 2025 | May 2025 |
The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
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
Dec 2026
Term ends Dec 2, 2026. No further fees fall due before then
Note
The 582 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
7
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2012 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.