Lapsed Jul 1, 2026 on the fee record · High confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 20, 2026
Third maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
Held by GE Global Sourcing LLC
Filed Jan 11, 2007 as application 11/622,136 · Granted Jul 1, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 1048 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Jul 1, 2026
2006
2029
Clock starts
Mar 20, 2006
Mar 20, 2006
No longer in force
Jul 1, 2026
Jul 1, 2026
Granted
Jul 1, 2014
Jul 1, 2014
Term would have run to
Jan 31, 2029
Jan 31, 2029
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
1,048
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 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.
115
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Its term would have run to Jan 31, 2029: its 20-year base term plus 1048 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. 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 Mar 20, 2006, when application 11/385,354, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jan 11, 2007) | Mar 20, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1048 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jan 31, 2029 | 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 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Jul 1, 2026 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jul 1, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| Application 10/361,968 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,538,611 | Term ended May 2024 | May 2024 |
| US 7,965,312 | In force Dec 2027 | Dec 2027 |
| US 9,733,625 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 8,280,566 | In force Oct 2029 | Oct 2029 |
| US 8,370,006 | In force Aug 2030 | Aug 2030 |
| Application 11/608,257 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,768,543 | this patent Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
8 of 115 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 11, 2007 Reel 18747, frame 41 | Kumar, Ajith K.; Shaffer, Glenn Robert | General Electric Company | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 6, 2018 Reel 47736, frame 140 | General Electric Company | GE Global Sourcing LLC | 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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 1048 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
13
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2014 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.