Term ended Sep 17, 2022 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended May 11, 2021
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on Jun 24, 2024.
Filed Dec 28, 2006 as application 11/646,670 · Granted May 22, 2012
Base term plus 494 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Sep 17, 2022
2001
2026
Clock starts
May 11, 2001
May 11, 2001
Term ended
Sep 17, 2022
Sep 17, 2022
Granted
May 22, 2012
May 22, 2012
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
494
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
2 of 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
4
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 494 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. 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 11, 2001, when application 09/853,206, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Dec 28, 2006); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | May 11, 2021 | 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 | +494 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Sep 17, 2022 | 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 | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on Jun 24, 2024, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Sep 17, 2022 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 8,099,295 | In force May 2028 | May 2028 |
| US 8,185,413 | this patent Sep 2022 | Sep 2022 |
| US 8,620,830 | Term ended May 2021 | May 2021 |
3 of 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2012 Reel 28034, frame 458 | Melnick, Steve; Rey-giraud, Agnes | Express Scripts, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 14, 2017 Reel 43864, frame 335 | Express Scripts, Inc. | Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
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 494 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
17
later US patents cite this one
That is above 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.