> I am often asked to ascertain, in connection with rendering a
> freedom-to-operate opinion, whether a third party's U.S. patent has
> expired for failure to pay a maintenance fee. The three tools I use are
> (1) the IFI Claims(r) database, (2) the INPADOC legal status table
> furnished on the Delphion server, and (3) the U.S. Patent Office's public
> PAIR page.
>
> In checking on U.S. Pat. 5,080,006, I find that IFI Claims(r) shows
> expiration, with no reinstatement, for failure to pay maintenance fee on
> 17 Jan. 1996 (published OG 19 March 1996), that INPADOC on Delphion
> confirms the same information, but that the public PAIR page shows not
> only that the 1996 maintenance fee was paid, but so was the 1999
> maintenance fee. My view is that the public PAIR page has the right
> information, but the two commercial databases are both, independently,
> wrong. Is that a reasonable conclusion?
>
> Peter Phillips
> Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
> (312) 616-5600 voice
> (312) 616-5700 fax
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