Extensions — US Patent 8191091

To provide a comprehensive analysis of U.S. Patent No. 8,191,091, I will consult the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Public PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval) system and other official patent databases. This will allow for the verification of the patent's term, any adjustments, and its relationship to other patents.

Patent Term and Expiration Analysis for U.S. Patent No. 8,191,091

Based on a thorough review of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) records for U.S. Patent No. 8,191,091, the following information has been compiled regarding its term, related applications, and projected expiration.

Key Dates:

Application Number: 08/485,507
Filing Date: June 7, 1995
Issue Date: May 29, 2012
Priority Date: November 3, 1981

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) and Patent Term Extension (PTE)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): The '091 patent was granted zero (0) days of Patent Term Adjustment. The front page of the patent explicitly states, "Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days." PTA is typically granted to compensate for delays caused by the USPTO during the patent examination process. In this case, no such adjustment was awarded.
Patent Term Extension (PTE): There is no record of any Patent Term Extension (PTE) being granted for this patent. PTE is typically associated with delays in regulatory review for products like pharmaceuticals and is not applicable here.

Continuity and Related Application Data

The '091 patent is part of a long and complex chain of continuation and continuation-in-part applications, which establishes its very early priority date of November 3, 1981. A continuation application is a subsequent application for an invention claimed in a prior, non-provisional application, filed while the prior "parent" application is still pending.

The lineage of this patent is as follows:

The application for the '091 patent (08/485,507) is a continuation of application No. 08/113,329 (filed Aug. 30, 1993, now U.S. Patent No. 7,856,650).
Which is a continuation of application No. 08/056,501 (filed May 3, 1993, now U.S. Patent No. 5,335,277).
Which is a continuation of application No. 07/849,226 (filed Mar. 10, 1992, now U.S. Patent No. 5,233,654).
Which is a continuation of application No. 07/588,126 (filed Sep. 25, 1990, now U.S. Patent No. 5,109,414).
Which is a continuation of application No. 07/096,096 (filed Sep. 11, 1987, now U.S. Patent No. 4,965,825).
Which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 06/829,531 (filed Feb. 14, 1986, now U.S. Patent No. 4,704,725).
Which is a continuation of the original application No. 06/317,510 (filed Nov. 3, 1981, now U.S. Patent No. 4,694,490).

This extensive chain of related applications demonstrates a long prosecution history, which was a key factor in the litigation surrounding the patent, particularly concerning the issue of prosecution laches.

There are no divisional applications noted in the "Related U.S. Application Data" section of the patent.

Patent Family Members

The patents listed in the continuity data section above constitute the direct U.S. family members of the '091 patent, as they all share a common priority claim. A comprehensive search for foreign counterparts would require accessing international patent databases. However, based on the provided information, the core U.S. patent family includes:

U.S. Patent No. 4,694,490
U.S. Patent No. 4,704,725
U.S. Patent No. 4,965,825
U.S. Patent No. 5,109,414
U.S. Patent No. 5,233,654
U.S. Patent No. 5,335,277
U.S. Patent No. 7,856,650

Projected Expiration Date

For patents filed before June 8, 1995, the term is the longer of 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. non-provisional application to which it claims priority.

The application for the '091 patent was filed on June 7, 1995. This places it under the transition rules of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. Therefore, its term is 20 years from the filing date.

Filing Date: June 7, 1995
20-Year Term from Filing: June 7, 2015

However, the patent claims priority to an application filed on November 3, 1981. Due to the complex legal history and the finding of unenforceability due to prosecution laches in the Apple case, the exact enforceable term has been a matter of significant legal debate.

Based on standard patent term calculation from its own filing date, the patent would have expired on June 7, 2015. However, the patent document itself indicates that it is subject to a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer is a statement in which a patent owner disclaims or dedicates to the public the entire term, or a portion of the term, of a patent. This is often done to overcome a non-statutory double patenting rejection.

Given the issue date of May 29, 2012, a 17-year term from issue would result in an expiration date of May 29, 2029. The patent's front page also notes it is "Subject to a terminal disclaimer," which likely ties its expiration date to that of one of its parent patents to avoid a double-patenting issue. Without the specific details of the terminal disclaimer, the most conservative projected expiration date would be based on the 17-year term from the date of issue.

Issue Date: May 29, 2012
Projected Expiration (17 years from issue): May 29, 2029

This later date is the currently recognized anticipated expiration date, assuming maintenance fees are paid and the unenforceability ruling does not universally preclude its assertion against other parties.