Extensions

US Patent 9523826: Term Adjustments, Continuations, Related Family, and Expiration

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is a mechanism under 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) to extend 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. These delays generally fall into categories such as failure to:

• Issue a first Office Action within 14 months of filing.
• Respond to applicant replies within 4 months.
• Issue a patent within 4 months after payment of the issue fee.
• Issue a patent within 36 months from the filing date of an application.

Applicant delays can, however, reduce the amount of PTA. The provided patent text for US9523826 explicitly states an "Adjusted expiration" date of 2034-12-29. This indicates that Patent Term Adjustment was applied to the patent. Without direct access to the USPTO's Patent Center or Public Search tools to view the specific PTA calculation for US9523826, the exact breakdown of days added due to A, B, or C delays, or any applicant-caused reductions, cannot be detailed here. However, the presence of an adjusted expiration date confirms PTA was granted.

Patent Term Extension (PTE)

Patent Term Extension (PTE) under 35 U.S.C. § 156 is a distinct mechanism from PTA. PTE is available for patents on certain products (like human drugs, medical devices, food additives, etc.) to compensate for time lost during the regulatory approval process by agencies such as the FDA.

Given that US9523826 is titled "Pluggable optical transceiver module," it is highly unlikely to be eligible for PTE, as optical transceiver modules generally do not require premarket government approval from regulatory agencies like the FDA in the same way human drugs or medical devices do. The provided patent text does not mention any PTE being applied or sought.

Continuation and Divisional Applications

• Continuation Applications: A continuation application allows an applicant to pursue additional claims based on the same disclosure as a previously filed "parent" application. It inherits the priority date of the parent application and must be filed before the parent application issues or is abandoned.
• Divisional Applications: A divisional application is filed when an original application contains claims to more than one invention. The USPTO may require the applicant to restrict the claims to one invention, and the applicant can then file a divisional application for the other inventions. Like continuations, divisional applications also benefit from the priority date of the original application.

The information provided within the patent text for US9523826 lists "Other versions" including US20150093083A1. This is a patent application publication, and its publication date (2015-04-02) precedes the grant date of US9523826B2 (2016-12-20). This suggests that US20150093083A1 is likely the parent application (or a related continuing application) from which US9523826 was granted. The "Applications Claiming Priority" section also lists TW102135723 and TWI535118B as applications claiming priority to the same priority date (2013-10-02) as US9523826, which further indicates a patent family.

Without direct access to the USPTO's Public Search or Patent Center systems, it is not possible to definitively state whether US9523826 itself is a continuation or divisional application, or if any continuation or divisional applications have been filed from US9523826. However, its publication as US20150093083A1 suggests it proceeded through the standard application and publication process.

Related Family Members

The patent text itself provides information on related family members:

• US20150093083A1: This is an earlier publication of the same patent application that led to US9523826B2. [cite: US9523826B2]
• TW102135723A and TWI535118B: These are Taiwan patent applications that share the same priority date (2013-10-02) as US9523826. [cite: US9523826B2] These represent foreign counterparts or related applications in the same patent family.

The "Family" section of the patent also explicitly lists:

• US14/504,500: This is the application number for US9523826. [cite: US9523826B2]

Projected Expiration Date

A U.S. utility patent generally expires 20 years from its earliest effective filing date, with adjustments for Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) or Patent Term Extension (PTE).

For US Patent 9523826:

• Filing Date: October 2, 2014 [cite: US9523826B2]
• Original Expiration Date (20 years from filing): October 2, 2034
• Adjusted Expiration Date: December 29, 2034 [cite: US9523826B2]

The adjusted expiration date of December 29, 2034, already accounts for any Patent Term Adjustment granted due to USPTO delays. [cite: US9523826B2] As noted above, it is highly improbable that Patent Term Extension (PTE) applies to this patent. Therefore, the projected expiration date for US Patent 9523826 is December 29, 2034. [cite: US9523826B2]