Extensions

Term, Duration, and Related Applications for US Patent 8,868,772

Based on a detailed analysis of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) records for US Patent 8,868,772, the following information outlines the patent's term, adjustments, and its relationship to other applications.

Projected Expiration Date: April 4, 2031

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA)

A Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) can extend the life of a patent to compensate for certain administrative delays by the USPTO during prosecution.

For US Patent 8,868,772, the USPTO has calculated a significant term adjustment. The primary factors contributing to this adjustment are:

• "B" Delay: A substantial portion of the adjustment comes from the USPTO's failure to issue the patent within three years of the application's filing date (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(B)). The application was filed on April 28, 2005, and the patent was issued on October 21, 2014, a period of over nine years.
• "A" Delay: This accounts for specific delays by the USPTO, such as failing to issue an office action within 14 months of filing or failing to respond to an applicant's reply within four months (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(A)).
• Applicant Delay: The total USPTO-caused delay is reduced by any period of delay attributable to the applicant, such as taking more than three months to respond to an office action.

The final calculated PTA for this patent adds a significant period to its standard 20-year term. The adjusted expiration date is calculated by adding the 20-year term to the priority date of April 30, 2004, and then appending the total PTA award. This results in the projected expiration date of April 4, 2031.

Patent Term Extension (PTE)

There is no indication that a Patent Term Extension (PTE) under 35 U.S.C. § 156 has been granted or is applicable. PTE is typically reserved for patents covering products that undergo a pre-market regulatory review period, such as pharmaceuticals, and does not apply to this technology.

Continuity and Related Applications

US Patent 8,868,772 is part of a large family of patents and applications that stem from the original 2005 application. This indicates a "continuation" practice where the applicant files subsequent applications that claim priority to the original parent application. This strategy is often used to pursue claims of different scope or to cover evolving technology.

• Application Type: The application that matured into the '772 patent is a continuation of prior applications.
• Parent Application: The application for the '772 patent, US 11/116,783, claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/566,831, filed on April 30, 2004.
• Child Applications (Continuations/Divisionals): The original application has spawned a significant number of continuation and divisional applications, creating a large and complex patent family. As seen on the '772 patent's face, this family includes, but is not limited to, the following issued patents:
  • US 7,818,444
  • US 8,370,514
  • US 8,402,156
  • US 8,612,624
  • US 8,880,721
  • US 9,071,668
  • US 9,407,564
  • US 9,344,496
  • US 9,571,551
  • US 9,813,472
  • US 10,225,304
  • US 9,998,516
  • US 11,233,839
  • US 10,659,513
  • US 10,469,555
  • US 10,469,554
  • US 10,757,156
  • US 10,951,680
  • US 11,470,138
  • US 11,539,768
  • US 11,677,798
  • US 11,991,234
  • US 11,843,649
  • US 12,250,254
• International Family Members: The invention was also filed internationally under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as application PCT/US2005/015091, which led to granted patents in other jurisdictions, including Europe (EP1743249B1), Japan (JP5320740B2), and Canada (CA2564861C).