U.S. Patents that Expired in October 2013

The term of a patent is the maximum period during which the patent can be enforced. Under current law, a U.S. patent granting from an application that was filed after June 8, 1995, will expire twenty years from its earliest effective filing date. The earlier patent term was seventeen years from the patent issue date. When the law changed, affected patents were granted a term that was the longer of the two terms calculated above. The patent term may be shortened due to the filing of a terminal disclaimer. It may also be adjusted upwards for patent office delays during the prosecution of the application.  In some cases, the term of a drug or medical device patent (listed in the Orange Book) can be extended for delays in the FDA’s approval of the use of the associated product; however, those extensions generally may not exceed 5 years.

U.S. law allows a patent owner to collect damages accrued up to six years preceding the filing of lawsuit. For example, if a lawsuit is filed a year after a patent expires, if the plaintiff prevails in proving infringement, she may claim damages for a period up to five years preceding the patent’s expiration. This underscores the need for a product manufacturer to be aware of the expiration dates of all patents that may be a threat to their ability to make, use, offer for sale, and sell products.

Note: The patent expiration laws vary by jurisdiction. A patent may expire before its term for a failure to pay maintenance fee or it may be invalidated during the course of patent litigation. Patents whose terms are affected by such events are not covered in this update.

Orange Book and Mobile Technology Patents that expired in the October 2013:

The table below lists selected patents that expired in the month of October along with the ownership details and products covered by these patents.

Patent Number	Title	Owner/Assignee	Products Covered	Expiration Date[i]	Category
5540930 and 5747061	Suspension of loteprednol etabonate for ear, eye, or nose treatment	Goldman Sachs Lending Partners as Collateral Agent	Alrex	10/25/2013	Drug
			Lotemax
			Zylet
5565467	Androstenone derivative	Smithkline Beecham Corporation	Avodart	10/15/2013	Drug
			Jalyn
5569672	Compounds	Beecham Group (as per face page)	Bactroban	10/29/2013	Drug
5741523	Stabilized prostaglandin E1	Pharmacia & Upjohn Company	Caverject	10/27/2013	Drug
5869100	Extended release clonidine formulation (tablet)	Fulcrum Capital Partners Inc.	Jenloga	10/13/2013	Drug
			Kapvay
5563175	GABA and L-glutamic acid analogs for antiseizure treatment	Northwestern University, Warner-Lambert Company	Lyrica	10/08/2013	Drug
5919455	Non-antigenic branched polymer conjugates	Pfizer Inc.	Macugen	10/27/2013	Drug
6113906	Water-soluble non-antigenic polymer linkable to biologically active material	Pfizer Inc.	Macugen	10/27/2013	Drug
6090799	Method for ameliorating muscle weakness/wasting in a patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus-type 1	Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc.	Oxandrin	10/20/2013	Drug
5547957	Method of treating androgenic alopecia with 5- alpha reductase inhibitors	Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	Propecia	10/15/2013	Drug
5563138	Benzoheterocyclic compounds	Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.	Raxar	10/08/2013	Drug
5563142	Diaromatic substituted compounds as anti-HIV-1 agents	Pharmacia & Upjohn Company	Rescriptor	10/08/2013	Drug
5565473	Unsaturated hydroxyalkylquinoline acids as leukotriene antagonists	Merck Sharp & Dohme Pharmaceuticals	Singulair	10/15/2013	Drug
5567817	Triazole antifungal agents	Pfizer Inc.	Vfend	10/22/2013	Drug
5484926	HIV protease inhibitors	Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc.	Viracept	10/07/2013	Drug
6162812	Pharmaceutical compositions containing HIV protease inhibitors and methods of their use	Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (as per face page)	Viracept	10/07/2013	Drug
5569652	Dihydrospirorenone as an antiandrogen	Bayer Pharma	Yasmin	10/29/2013	Drug
			Yaz
5490165	Demodulation element assignment in a system capable of receiving multiple signals	Qualcomm Inc.	Blackberry 8703e	10/28/2013	Cell Phones, Accessories
			BlackBerry Bold 9650 Smartphone - 5.0,
			BlackBerry Curve 9300/9330 Smartphones - BlackBerry Curve Series - 6.0
			HTC Touch diamond 2
			Motorola Sprint Mobile Broadband Smart Device
			HTC Smart phone
5568483	Method and apparatus for the formatting of data for transmission	Qualcomm Inc.	Blackberry 8703e	10/22/2013	Cell Phones, Accessories
			BlackBerry Bold 9650/9700 Smartphone - 5.0
			HTC Smart phone
			HTC Touch diamond 2
			Motorola Sprint Mobile Broadband Smart Device
5563146	Method of treating hyperproliferative vascular disease	Wyeth	CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent on RAPTORRAIL Rapid Exchange Delivery System	10/08/2013	Medical Devices
			CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent on RAPTORTM Over-the-Wire Delivery System
5515379	Time slot allocation method	Motorola Mobility LLC	Motorola i700plus	10/18/2013	Cell Phones
5558091	Magnetic determination of position and orientation	Biosense Inc.	NAVISTAR DS Diagnostic/Ablation Catheter	10/06/2013	Medical Devices

Note: The table is sourced from MaxVal’s Patent Marker[ii].

To know if these patents are litigated or not, use MaxVal’s free online tool Has This Patent Been Litigated?  Also available as a free Android app from the Google Play Store.

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[i] Expected expiration date. This date is calculated using MaxVal’s Patent Term Estimator, which is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

[ii] MaxVal’s Patent Marker provides an online environment where patentees can virtually mark products and search products for patent-related information.