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Analysis of U.S. Patent 5,905,248 Term, Status, and Family

Based on a review of the patent documentation and USPTO records, the following information has been determined for U.S. Patent 5,905,248.

Patent Term and Expiration

• Filing Date: August 22, 1997.
• Issue Date: May 18, 1999.
• Standard Term: For patents filed after June 8, 1995, the term is 20 years from the earliest non-provisional U.S. filing date.
• Calculated Expiration Date: The standard 20-year term calculated from the filing date would have ended on August 22, 2017.
• Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) / Extensions (PTE): A search of USPTO records indicates no Patent Term Adjustments or Extensions were granted for this patent. The provisions for PTA generally apply to applications filed on or after May 29, 2000, and therefore would not apply to this 1997 application.
• Actual Status: The patent is expired. The Google Patents record, which sources USPTO data, lists the legal status as "Expired - Fee Related." This indicates that the patent lapsed prior to its full term due to the non-payment of required maintenance fees. Maintenance fees for patents are due at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after the issue date. Failure to pay these fees results in the patent's expiration.

Continuity and Related Applications

The application for patent 5,905,248 (Ser. No. 08/916,694) is a Continuation-in-Part of a long line of preceding applications. The "Related Cases" section of the patent specification explicitly details this extensive family history. Key preceding applications include:

• Ser. No. 08/905,903, filed August 4, 1997
• Ser. No. 08/869,164, filed June 4, 1997
• Ser. No. 08/846,219, filed April 25, 1997
• Ser. No. 08/838,501, filed April 7, 1997
• Ser. No. 08/820,540, filed March 19, 1997
• Ser. No. 08/753,367, filed November 25, 1996
• Ser. No. 08/615,054, filed March 12, 1996
• Ser. No. 08/573,949, filed December 18, 1995
• ...and numerous others dating back to an application filed on September 11, 1990 (Ser. No. 07/580,740).

The application for this patent is one of many that claim priority to this long chain of development in barcode scanning and data systems by Metrologic Instruments, Inc. No divisional applications have been identified as originating from the '248 patent application itself.

Patent Family Members

The application that led to US 5,905,248 was part of a broader international filing strategy. The patent claims priority to several PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications, which resulted in a family of patents being granted in various countries. Key international family members include:

• PCT Application PCT/US1997/021975, which was published as WO1998024050A1.
• PCT Application PCT/US1997/021443, published as WO1998024049A1.
• PCT Application PCT/US1997/021970, published as WO1998024036A1.

These PCT applications led to patents and applications in jurisdictions such as:

• Europe (EP): EP1019844A4, EP0958546B1, EP0950226A4
• Canada (CA): CA2272467C, CA2272585C, CA2272583C
• Australia (AU): AU5367998A, AU7411698A, AU5513498A
• China (CN): CN1178147C, CN1171159C
• Japan (JP): JP2002512709A, JP2002516637A
• South Korea (KR): KR100461269B1, KR100355340B1
• Brazil (BR): BR9713426A, BR9713416A, BR9713425A
• Hong Kong (HK): HK1027882B, HK1026042B, HK1023828B