The patent lapsed. The product is still selling.
When an owner stops paying the USPTO's maintenance fees, the patent dies early and anyone can make the invention. Thousands lapse every week. We read all of them and send you the few worth making.
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This week's picks
All 145, ranked →-
#1
Shelf that locks to a back wall with a one-piece clip
A flat shelf with a downward flange that fastens to a back shelf wall using a one-piece mounting clip. The clip’s upturned ears pass...
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#2
Corded/cordless drill with single-collar mode selector
A hand-held electric drill/driver that combines gearbox speed, clutch torque setting, and hammer mode selection into one rotatable...
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#3
Vacuum crevice nozzle with external guide pin
A vacuum crevice tool that uses a flattened nozzle attached to a circular vacuum hose and an external guide that runs along the nozzle...
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#4
Shower curtain liner with multiple hook rows and tear‑off bottom
A single-panel shower curtain liner with several horizontal rows of hook apertures at the top so you can hang the liner at different...
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#5
Tablet protective case with flexible tethered cover and base
A two-piece protective case: a rigid housing that holds a tablet and a separate base with a concave supporting groove. A soft, flexible...
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#6
Shelf structure
How a patent gets here
The method →The owner stops paying
A US utility patent lasts up to 20 years, but only if the owner pays maintenance fees 3½, 7½ and 11½ years after it's granted. Miss one and the six-month grace period after it, and the patent expires.
The USPTO records a bare number
Startups fold, product lines get dropped, a company decides a patent isn't worth another few thousand dollars in fees. Each lapse is published as a patent number and an event code, nothing more.
We read it and check the market
Every week we pull the new lapses, drop anything revived, keep the consumer categories and read the claims. Each pick gets a plain-English write-up, a manufacturing read, and a check on whether something like it is already selling.
You check the rest
A lapsed patent is a lead, not a clearance. Related patents, design patents and trademarks can still cover a product, so check before you tool up.
Who reads it
Amazon and Etsy private-label sellers looking for a product nobody else has thought to make yet. Small manufacturers with spare capacity. Product designers who want to know what the last generation of inventors left on the table.