Extensions

U.S. Patent 6,076,733: Term, Application History, and Expiration

Date of Analysis: April 29, 2026

An examination of the public records for U.S. Patent No. 6,076,733 ("the '733 patent"), assigned to Metrologic Instruments, Inc., provides the following details regarding its term, related applications, and legal status.

Patent Term and Expiration:

• Filing Date: April 25, 1997
• Issue Date: June 20, 2000
• Patent Term: For patents filed before June 8, 1995, the term is the later of 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the filing date. For patents filed on or after June 8, 1995, the term is 20 years from the earliest effective filing date. The '733 patent falls under the latter category.
• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) / Patent Term Extension (PTE): A review of the patent's prosecution history in the USPTO's Patent Center database indicates that no Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) or Patent Term Extension (PTE) was granted. The provisions for PTA generally apply to applications filed on or after May 29, 2000, and therefore would not be applicable to this patent.
• Projected Expiration Date: Based on the filing date of April 25, 1997, the 20-year term of the patent expired on April 25, 2017.

Continuity and Related Applications:

The '733 patent is part of a larger family of applications and claims priority to several earlier filings. This indicates a strategic approach by the applicant to protect a core technology and its various improvements and applications over time.

• Continuation: The application for the '733 patent (Ser. No. 08/846,219) is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/891,599, filed on July 11, 1997, which subsequently issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,251.

• Continuation-in-Part: The parent application (Ser. No. 08/891,599) is a continuation-in-part of several earlier applications, establishing a priority chain that extends back to November 24, 1993. This extensive list of related applications demonstrates a long history of development in the field of barcode-driven internet access. The key preceding applications mentioned in the '733 patent's "Related Cases" section include:

  • Ser. No. 08/838,501 (filed Apr. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,819)
  • Ser. No. 08/820,540 (filed Mar. 19, 1997)
  • Ser. No. 08/753,367 (filed Nov. 25, 1996, now abandoned)
  • Ser. No. 08/645,331 (filed May 13, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,227)
  • Ser. No. 08/615,054 (filed Mar. 12, 1996)
  • And several others dating back to 1993.

• Divisional Applications: There are no divisional applications listed for the '733 patent.

Patent Family Members:

The invention protected by the '733 patent was also the subject of international patent filings. This is evident from the numerous priority claims to international patent cooperation treaty (PCT) applications, including:

• PCT/US1997/021970
• PCT/US1997/021975
• PCT/US1997/021443

These PCT applications led to the grant of patents in various jurisdictions, including Europe (EP), Japan (JP), Canada (CA), China (CN), and others, creating a global family of patents related to this technology. The existence of a broad patent family underscores the perceived commercial importance of the invention at the time of filing.