Extensions

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is a process that extends the term of a U.S. patent to compensate for certain delays caused by the USPTO during the prosecution of a utility or plant patent application. This adjustment is added to the standard 20-year patent term from the earliest effective filing date.

Based on the information available, US Patent 9002795 has an "Adjusted expiration" date of 2029-05-04. Since the original filing date was January 26, 2006, and the issue date was April 7, 2015, the standard 20-year term from the filing date would have expired on January 26, 2026. The fact that the adjusted expiration is May 4, 2029, indicates that there was a significant Patent Term Adjustment granted due to USPTO delays during prosecution.

The specific details of the PTA calculation (e.g., A, B, and C delays, and any applicant-caused delays that reduced the adjustment) are not immediately available without access to the patent's prosecution history in PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval). However, the existence of an adjusted expiration date well beyond the standard 20-year term from filing confirms PTA was applied.

Patent Term Extensions (PTE)

Patent Term Extension (PTE) is available under the Hatch-Waxman Act for patents claiming products that require regulatory approval prior to being sold, such as human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, food additives, color additives, and medical devices. The purpose of PTE is to restore a portion of the patent term lost while awaiting such regulatory approval.

US Patent 9002795 relates to an "Object-based data storage device." This technology does not fall under the categories of products (drugs, medical devices, etc.) that typically qualify for Patent Term Extension under 35 U.S.C. § 156. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that US Patent 9002795 has received any Patent Term Extension.

Continuation Applications

A continuation application is a second application for the same invention claimed in a prior nonprovisional application and is filed before the patenting or abandonment of or termination of proceedings on the prior application. Continuation applications allow applicants to continue prosecuting claims that were not allowed in the parent application, or to present new claims based on the original disclosure.

To determine if US9002795 has continuation applications, one would typically examine the "Continuations" or "Related Applications" section of the patent document on the USPTO website or in commercial patent databases. Without direct access to the full legal status and family tree information beyond what is presented in the initial patent text, a definitive statement cannot be made here. However, the provided patent information lists "US11/339,991" as the "Application number" and "US20070185902A1" as "Other versions." The application number US11/339,991 is the parent application from which US9002795 issued. The status of other potential continuations would require further investigation into the family tree of US11/339,991.

Divisional Applications

A divisional application is a later application for an independent or distinct invention carved out of a prior nonprovisional application. Divisional applications are often filed as a result of a restriction requirement by the examiner, where multiple distinct inventions were claimed in a single parent application.

Similar to continuation applications, identifying divisional applications requires examining the patent's family tree. The provided patent information does not explicitly list any divisional applications for US9002795. However, if the original application (US11/339,991) received a restriction requirement, divisional applications might exist.

Related Family Members

The term "related family members" typically refers to all patent applications and patents that claim priority to a common earlier application, forming a patent family. This includes parent applications, continuation applications, divisional applications, continuation-in-part applications, and foreign equivalents.

From the provided Google Patents information, the following related family members are explicitly mentioned:

• US11/339,991 (Application number, also listed as the priority to US9002795). This is the parent application.
• US20070185902A1 (Publication of the application).
• JP2007014879A (Priority to this Japanese application). This indicates a foreign counterpart.
• JP5000316B2 (Japanese granted patent related to JP2007014879A).

The "Publications" section also lists US20070185902A1 and US9002795B2. The "Priority Applications" section lists US11/339,991 and JP2007014879A. The "Applications Claiming Priority" section lists US11/339,991.

To get a complete list of all related family members (e.g., any subsequent continuations or divisionals that might have been filed off of US11/339,991 or its other family members), a deeper search into a patent family database would be required.

Projected Expiration Date

The projected expiration date for US Patent 9002795 is 2029-05-04. This date is provided as the "Adjusted expiration" on the Google Patents page. This date includes any Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) granted due to delays in prosecution by the USPTO. The standard patent term is 20 years from the earliest effective filing date, which for US9002795 is January 26, 2006. A calculation of 20 years from the filing date would be January 26, 2026. The adjusted expiration date of May 4, 2029, indicates that approximately 3 years and 3 months of PTA were added to the patent term.