Extensions

Term, Expiration, and Family Analysis for U.S. Patent 6,199,076

This analysis details the patent term, continuity data, and projected expiration for U.S. Patent 6,199,076 based on USPTO records as of May 11, 2026.

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Patent Term and Expiration

• Filing Date: October 2, 1996
• Issue Date: March 6, 2001
• Governing Law: As the application was filed after June 7, 1995, its term is governed by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which sets the patent term at 20 years from the earliest effective U.S. non-provisional filing date.
• Projected Expiration Date: The patent's term is calculated from its filing date of October 2, 1996. Therefore, the patent expired 20 years later.
  • Calculated Expiration: October 2, 2016
• Current Status: Expired. The patent's term has concluded, and it is now in the public domain.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) and Extensions (PTE)

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): There is no record of any Patent Term Adjustment granted to this patent. PTA is typically granted for delays in prosecution caused by the USPTO. Given the patent issued in under five years from its filing, significant prosecution delays necessitating PTA are not indicated.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): There is no record of any Patent Term Extension for this patent. PTE under 35 U.S.C. § 156 is related to regulatory review delays (e.g., by the FDA) and is not applicable to the subject matter of this patent.

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Continuity and Patent Family

U.S. Patent 6,199,076 is the parent patent of a large and heavily litigated family of applications that claim priority back to its 1996 filing date. This continuity chain was used by the assignee, Personal Audio LLC, to file subsequent patents with claims directed at various aspects of media distribution, which were later asserted in litigation.

Directly Related Applications:

The application that issued as the '076 patent, Ser. No. 08/724,813, serves as the parent for a chain of subsequent applications. The most notable direct and indirect descendants are:

• U.S. Patent 7,509,178:

  • Relationship: A divisional of the '076 patent's application.
  • Application No.: 09/782,546
  • Filed: February 13, 2001
  • Titled: "Audio program distribution and playback system."
  • Status: Expired. This patent was litigated alongside the '076 patent in several cases.

• U.S. Patent 8,112,504 (the "Podcasting Patent"):

  • Relationship: A divisional of the application for the '178 patent, making it a "grandchild" of the '076 patent.
  • Application No.: 12/380,955
  • Filed: March 4, 2009
  • Titled: "System for disseminating media content representing episodes in a serialized sequence."
  • Status: Expired (Fee Related). Key claims of this patent were invalidated in an inter partes review proceeding, a decision that was affirmed by the Federal Circuit. This patent was the subject of high-profile lawsuits against podcasters and media companies.

Full Family Chain:

The provided patent text and public records indicate a large number of applications claim priority back to the original 1996 application. This forms an extensive patent family that includes, but is not limited to:

• Parent: US 6,199,076 (Application 08/724,813, filed 1996-10-02)
  • Child (Divisional): US 7,509,178 (Application 09/782,546, filed 2001-02-13)
    • Child (Continuation): US 2007/0026852 A1 (Application 11/542,379, filed 2006-10-03)
    • Child (Continuation): US 2008/0005130 A1 (Application 11/888,864, filed 2007-08-02)
    • Child (Divisional): US 8,112,504 (Application 12/380,955, filed 2009-03-04)
    • Child (Divisional): US 2009/0177303 A1 (Application 12/380,961, filed 2009-03-04)
    • Child (Divisional): US 2009/0198357 A1 (Application 12/380,908, filed 2009-03-04)
    • Child (Continuation): US 2009/0248182 A1 (Application 12/386,601, filed 2009-04-20)
      • Child (Continuation): US 2014/0156808 A1 (Application 14/181,650, filed 2014-02-15)
      • Child (Continuation): US 2014/0163707 A1 (Application 14/181,652, filed 2014-02-15)
        • Child (Continuation): US 2016/0029059 A1 (Application 14/639,016, filed 2015-03-04)

This extensive family tree demonstrates a strategy of filing numerous related applications over many years to cover different embodiments and aspects of the original 1996 invention, thereby creating a broad portfolio for licensing and assertion.