Worlds Inc (WDDD)

[MarkmanRunup]

20 years from when patent was filed

According to 35 USC § 154 (a) (2) and (3):

(2) Term.— Subject to the payment of fees under this title, such grant shall be for a term beginning on the date on which the patent* issues and ending 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application or applications under section 120, 121, or 365 (c), from the date on which the earliest such application was filed.

(3) Priority.— Priority under section 119, 365 (a), or 365 (b) shall not be taken into account in determining the term of a patent.

So some dates...

Nov 13, 1995 - Worlds filed a provisional application to establish a priority date
Nov 12, 1996 - Worlds filed the first patent in their chain of patents
Apr 17, 2001 - Worlds was issued their first patent

Section 154 (a) (3) promulgates that the priority date "shall not be taken into account in determining the term of a patent". So the Nov 13, 1995 date is not "taken into account".

Therefore, the term of Worlds' patent chain goes from Apr 17, 2001 ("beginning on the date on which the patent issues") and ends Nov 12, 2016 ("ending 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed"), a patent term of 15 years, 6 months, and 26 days.

* Notice the patent code uses the word "patent". A provisional application is never called a "patent".

See the intro page on this message board for more details (if you have hidden the intro page, you will need to unhide it)