(19)Fresh off Patent
(45) Week of Oct 5, 2026 No. 5 3,852 lapsed 197 listed
(54) Weekly list of lapsed US utility patents

Lapsed US patents, screened for products that still sell.

US patents need maintenance fees to stay in force. When those fees go unpaid, the patent lapses and anyone can make the invention. Every week we go through every new lapse — 3,852 in the latest batch — and surface the ones covering products people actually buy.

Free. One email each Wednesday with the five highest-scoring patents. Unsubscribe at any time.

Patent drawing: Bi-fold wallet made from stainless-steel woven fabric
US 8,820,368 · lapsed Sep 2, 2026Bi-fold wallet made from stainless-steel woven fabric
4,249US patents lapsed or reached full term this week
197consumer products on this week's list
1.5%of lapsed patents are later revived
5patents a week free to read in full

This week's list

Full ranked list →
  1. #1 Bags, Jewelry & Accessoriesscore 77

    Bi-fold wallet made from stainless-steel woven fabric

    A wallet constructed from woven stainless-steel mesh that is stitched into layers to form card pockets. The sheets of metal fabric (back...

  2. #2 Tools & Hardwarescore 75

    Drill/screwdriver with a single collar that sets speed, clutch and hammer

    A handheld electric drill/driver where a single rotatable collar sets modes: multiple clutch torque settings for screw driving, a...

  3. #3 Outdoors & Campingscore 75

    Backpack with a dialed lace that curves the back panel

    A backpack that uses a retractable lace and an adjustment device (dial) to pull a spacing panel toward the rear edge of the back panel,...

  4. #4 Home & Furniturescore 75

    A foam-filled air mattress with welded cover and dual side chambers

    This is a mattress that packs open-cell foam cores inside air-tight bags and uses pumpable air to change firmness. The cover can be...

  5. #5 Kitchen & Diningscore 75

    A heatable sleeve that wraps a cup or bottle

    A reusable sleeve that fits around a cup, bottle or can and contains an internal heater and insulation layer. The heater is activated in...

  6. #6 Storage & ContainersPro

    Synthetic resin round bottle

    Available with Pro

192 more patents are on this week's list. Pro includes all of them, with demand checks, filters and CSV export. Pro is 50% off during the beta. The price holds for as long as the subscription continues. View plans

Other tracks this week

About tracks →

How we score them

Scoring diagram →

Every patent gets a score out of 100 based on five factors. You can see the full breakdown on each patent's page.

From lapse to listing

Full method →

  1. Patent lapses

    US utility patents are only valid as long as the owner pays maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years. Miss the fee and the 6-month grace period, and the patent expires early — the invention is now free to use.

  2. We find it in the data

    The USPTO logs every fee event in a 1.6 GB file with 27 million+ rows. We match each lapse to the full patent record — drawings, claims, classification, related patents — and check whether the owner paid late to revive it.

  3. Screened and written up

    We remove revivals and filter for categories with real commercial potential, from household goods to software and medical devices. Each one that makes it through gets a written summary, a manufacturing assessment, and a check for comparable products on sale.

  4. Do your own clearance

    A lapsed patent is a research lead, not legal clearance. Related patents, design patents, and trademarks can still cover a product. Get a freedom-to-operate review before spending on tooling.

Swipe sideways to see the whole figure.

FIG. 1: a utility patent's maintenance schedule Maintenance fees fall due three and a half, seven and a half and eleven and a half years after grant, each followed by a six-month grace period. A patent whose owner pays every fee runs to its full term. A patent whose owner misses a fee, here the seven-and-a-half-year fee, lapses when the grace period ends. Pays every fee Misses the 7½-year fee Lapsed anyone may make it runs to full term 0 3½ 7½ 11½ years after grant 303234 3638 FIG. 1

Swipe sideways to see the whole figure.

A patent's maintenance schedule from grant (30). Fees fall due 3½, 7½ and 11½ years after grant (32), each followed by a six-month grace period (34). If a fee and its grace period both pass, the patent lapses (36) and is listed in that week's batch. If the owner pays every fee, the patent runs to its full term (38), 20 years from filing, and is listed in the week it expires.

Who uses it