Extensions

For US patent 6993658 (US6993658B1), here are the details regarding its term and related applications:

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) and Patent Term Extensions (PTE):

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): US patent 6993658 was filed on March 6, 2000, which makes it subject to the Patent Term Adjustment provisions established by the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999. PTA compensates for delays caused by the USPTO during the prosecution of a patent application, such as failing to issue a first office action within 14 months or failing to issue a patent within three years of the filing date. To determine the exact PTA granted for US6993658B1, one would typically need to examine the patent's file wrapper on the USPTO's Patent Center. The USPTO automatically determines and provides notice of PTA no later than the patent's issuance date. However, information on specific PTA for this patent is not available in the provided search results.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): PTEs are granted for patents on certain human drugs, food or color additives, medical devices, animal drugs, and veterinary biological products to restore time lost during premarket government approval from a regulatory agency. Given the subject matter of US6993658B1 (user authentication), it is highly unlikely to be eligible for a Patent Term Extension under 35 U.S.C. § 156.

Continuation and Divisional Applications:

• Continuation and Divisional Applications: A patent granted on a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part application that was filed on or after June 8, 1995, will generally have a term that ends twenty years from the filing date of the earliest application for which a benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c). The provided information for US6993658B1 lists its application number as US09/519,829, filed on March 6, 2000. However, the search results do not explicitly indicate if US6993658B1 itself is a continuation or divisional of an earlier U.S. application, nor do they list any later-filed continuation or divisional applications directly claiming priority to US09/519,829.

Related Family Members:

• Worldwide Applications (Priority Applications): US6993658B1 claims priority to the U.S. application US09/519,829, filed on March 6, 2000. It also has the following related priority applications:
  • PCT/US2001/007058: Filed on March 6, 2001, with a legal status of "Ceased".
  • AU2001245448A: Filed on March 6, 2001, with a legal status of "Abandoned".

Projected Expiration Date:

• Standard Term Calculation: Generally, the term of a U.S. utility patent issued from an application filed on or after June 8, 1995, is 20 years from its earliest effective filing date. US6993658B1's application filing date is March 6, 2000. Therefore, without any adjustments or extensions, the patent's term would typically end 20 years from this date.
• Anticipated Expiration: Google Patents lists the "Anticipated expiration" date as March 6, 2020. This date aligns with a 20-year term from the filing date of March 6, 2000, assuming no PTA or PTE were granted.
• Legal Status: Google Patents explicitly states the "Legal status" of US6993658B1 as "Expired - Lifetime". This confirms that the patent is no longer in force.
• Conclusion: The patent US6993658B1 expired on March 6, 2020.