Extensions

Term, Adjustments, and Related Applications for US Patent 5,910,988

An analysis of the prosecution history and related legal events for US Patent 5,910,988 reveals the following details regarding its term, related applications, and family members.

Patent Term and Expiration

• Filing Date: August 27, 1997
• Issue Date: June 8, 1999
• Statutory Term: For patents filed before May 29, 2000, the term is the longer of 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the filing date. In this case, 20 years from the filing date provides the longer term.
• Calculated Expiration Date: August 27, 2017

Based on its filing date, the patent term for US Patent 5,910,988 was calculated to be 20 years, leading to an expiration date of August 27, 2017.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) and Extensions (PTE)

The provisions for Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) were established by the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 and apply to applications filed on or after May 29, 2000. Since the application for patent 5,910,988 was filed on August 27, 1997, it was not eligible for PTA.

There is no record of any Patent Term Extension (PTE) being granted for this patent, which is typically reserved for delays caused by regulatory review (e.g., by the FDA) and would not apply to this technology.

Therefore, the original expiration date of August 27, 2017, stands without adjustment.

Continuation and Divisional Applications

A review of the USPTO's continuity data for this patent shows that application 08/917,761 (which issued as US 5,910,988) has a single, direct continuation:

• Continuation Application: A continuation application, 09/081,012, was filed on May 19, 1998. This application claims priority to the 08/917,761 application.
  • Issued Patent from Continuation: This continuation application was granted as US Patent 6,032,137 on February 29, 2000. This patent, titled "System and method for payment processing using a data repository," became a key asset in DataTreasury's litigation campaigns alongside the '988 patent.

There are no divisional applications recorded as stemming from the '988 patent's original application.

Patent Family Members

US Patent 5,910,988 is part of a large international patent family, stemming from a PCT application filed on August 26, 1998. The family includes patents and applications in numerous jurisdictions.

• PCT Application: WO/1999/011021 (published March 4, 1999)

Key international family members include, but are not limited to:

• Australia: AU758266B2
• Canada: CA2301793C
• China: CN1319006C
• European Patent Office: EP1008086A4
• Japan: JP2001514423A
• Mexico: MXPA00001968A

The extensive international filing indicates an initial strategy to secure broad global protection for the described invention.