Term ended May 24, 2025 · High confidence
20-year base term ended May 24, 2025
Held by Whalen LLC
Filed Apr 3, 2009 as application 12/417,902 · Granted Dec 13, 2016
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended May 24, 2025
2005
2026
Clock starts
May 24, 2005
May 24, 2005
Term ended
May 24, 2025
May 24, 2025
Granted
Dec 13, 2016
Dec 13, 2016
base term
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,530,538, to May 24, 2025. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
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.
19
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 is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 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 May 24, 2005, when application 11/135,888, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 3, 2009) | May 24, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,530,538) | resolves to May 24, 2025, no earlier than this term, so no change | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | May 24, 2025 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,530,538 | Term ended Mar 2026 | Mar 2026 |
| Application 11/890,828 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,079,311 | In force Sep 2029 | Sep 2029 |
| US 9,518,695 | this patent May 2025 | May 2025 |
| Application 61/472,194 | Pending not computed | not computed |
| US 8,191,485 | Lapsed on the fee record Jun 2020 | Jun 2020 |
| US 8,622,005 | In force Aug 2027 | Aug 2027 |
| Application 95/002,164 | Pending not computed | not computed |
8 of 19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 2011 Reel 26849, frame 78 | Whalen Furniture Manufacturing, Inc. | Union Bank, N.A., as Agent | Memorandum and Notice of Security Interest in Intellectual Property |
| Nov 16, 2011 Reel 27236, frame 91 | Whalen, Kenneth J.; Jones, Paul R. | Whalen Furniture Manufacturing Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jun 4, 2013 Reel 30545, frame 840 | Union Bank, N.a. | Whalen Furniture Manufacturing, Inc. | Release and Reassignment of Security Interest in Patents and Patent Applications |
| Dec 30, 2013 Reel 31891, frame 258 | Whalen Furniture Manufacturing, Inc. | LF Centennial Limited | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 16, 2014 Reel 32072, frame 69 | Whalen Furniture Manufacturing, Inc. | LF Centennial Limited | Corrective Assignment to Correct the to Remove Incorrect Patent No. D618407 and Add Correct Patent No. D619407 Previously Recorded on Reel 031891 Frame 0258. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Assignment. |
| Sep 28, 2018 Reel 47162, frame 373 | LF Centennial Ltd. | Whalen 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.
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,530,538, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
4
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2016 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.