Extensions

Term, Continuation, and Family Analysis for US Patent 6,314,420

Date of Analysis: May 11, 2026

This analysis details the patent term, application history, and related family members for U.S. Patent 6,314,420 ("the '420 patent").

Patent Term and Expiration

• Priority Date: The patent's term is calculated from its earliest claimed priority date. As a continuation-in-part, the '420 patent claims priority to U.S. Application No. 08/627,436, which was filed on April 4, 1996.
• Statutory Term: The standard term for a U.S. patent is 20 years from the earliest effective filing date.
• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) / Extension (PTE): A review of the USPTO's public records for this patent indicates that no Patent Term Adjustments or Extensions were granted. The application was filed before the effective date (May 29, 2000) of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, which established the modern PTA system.
• Calculated Expiration Date: Based on the April 4, 1996, priority date and a 20-year term, the patent expired on April 4, 2016. This is consistent with the "Expired - Lifetime" legal status listed in public databases.

Continuation and Divisional History

The '420 patent is part of a chain of related applications filed by the same inventors.

• Parent Application:

  • The '420 patent, filed as application 09/204,149 on December 3, 1998, is a Continuation-in-Part of application 08/627,436.
  • Application 08/627,436 was filed on April 4, 1996, and issued as U.S. Patent 5,867,799 ("Distributed, collaborative/content-based information filtering system") on February 2, 1999. This parent patent discloses the foundational "wire" or continuous filtering system.

• Child Application (Continuation):

  • A continuation of the application for the '420 patent was filed on October 22, 2001, under application number 10/045,198.
  • This continuation application subsequently issued as U.S. Patent 6,775,664 ("Collaborative/adaptive search engine") on August 10, 2004. This patent shares the same title as the '420 patent and was also asserted in the I/P Engine, Inc. v. AOL, Inc., et al. litigation.

Patent Family Summary

The known U.S. patent family for US 6,314,420 consists of three issued patents originating from the initial 1996 application.

Patent Number	Application Number	Filing Date	Issue Date	Relationship to '420 Patent	Title
5,867,799	08/627,436	April 4, 1996	February 2, 1999	Parent Application	Distributed, collaborative/content-based information filtering system
6,314,420	09/204,149	Dec. 3, 1998	Nov. 6, 2001	Subject Patent (Continuation-in-Part of '799 application)	Collaborative/adaptive search engine
6,775,664	10/045,198	October 22, 2001	August 10, 2004	Continuation of '420 application	Collaborative/adaptive search engine

There are no known foreign counterparts or divisional applications associated with this patent family. The inventive activity appears to be confined to the United States.