Free tools · Patent family & where in force
Every member of a patent's family, and where it is still in force.
A patent family is every application that shares the same priority filing — the US patent, its continuations, and the corresponding applications in Europe, China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. Enter a US patent number below for each member, its country, and whether the record shows it granted, pending or no longer in force.
By patent number
One number, any format. Pick what you want to know about it, or ask for everything.
Free. Five lookups a day per visitor; fifteen with an email. The examiner's search log is read by a paid transcription, so it is limited to three new patents a day per visitor and twenty for everyone. A patent already read is always free and never counts. Resets at midnight UTC.
Every answer shown here, by email, with a link back. Also lifts your limit to fifteen lookups a day.
Deadline calculators
Dates in, dates out. The IPR one-year bar, the PTAB milestones, a contest's close in your own zone, the PCT national phase and the EP opposition window.
Date the complaint was served (35 U.S.C. §315(b)).
Date the IPR petition was filed.
The close as posted, Eastern Time.
Earliest priority date. 30 months for most offices; 31 for the EP and some others.
Date the mention of the EP grant was published. An opposition is due 9 months later (Art. 99 EPC).
Statutory and rule-based intervals, counted in calendar days; the PTAB lines are the usual milestones, and the Board's own scheduling order governs. Not legal advice. Feeds the invalidity search.
WO / PCT report reader
A WO number in; out: the international search report's citations with their X, Y and A categories and the claims each was aimed at, the earliest priority, the national-phase dates, and whether the US national phase has been entered.
International search report · EPO record
- X
- Y
- A
X: relevant alone. Y: relevant combined with another. A: background. Only the searching authority's own citations are listed, not the applicant's. National-phase limits vary by office; check the WIPO PCT time-limits table for the one you need.
Wayback date-prover
A URL in; out: the earliest archived capture of the page and its link, as a citable line for dating a manual, a datasheet or a product page. A capture proves the page existed by that date; it says nothing about when it was first published. Feeds the non-patent literature sweep.
From the Wayback Machine
About this tool
The tool reads the European Patent Office's worldwide bibliographic and legal-status record for the family. Status comes from that record as published; national offices report to it on their own schedules, so a recent lapse or grant may not appear yet.
Two uses: knowing where a competitor's protection actually reaches, and finding the foreign counterparts whose examiners may have cited art the US examiner did not.
Questions
- What is the difference between a simple and an extended family?
- A simple family shares exactly the same priority claims; an extended family links everything connected by at least one shared priority. The lookup lists the family as the EPO record groups it.
- Does 'in force' mean the patent is enforceable?
- It means the record shows it granted and not lapsed, withdrawn or expired. Enforceability also depends on fees, validity and local law; treat the status as where to look next.