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Expired European patentEurope

Apparatus and method for detecting inhomogeneities in semi-plastic substances through ultrasound

EP 0446533 B1 · Applicant: UNILEVER N.V.

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Listed from its EPO record in Patent Yard's archive of European patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the EPO PDF and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.

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Why it's free to use

  • Filed December 31, 1990 and granted April 9, 1997. A European patent lasts at most 20 years from filing, so its term ended December 31, 2010.
  • A supplementary protection certificate, which can extend a medicine or crop-protection patent, adds at most five and a half years, so even that would have ended by July 1, 2016.
  • We check European rights only. A US or other national patent in its family could still be in force: check its family on Espacenet or Google Patents.
FiledDecember 31, 1990
PublishedSeptember 18, 1991
GrantedApril 9, 1997
Term endedDecember 31, 2010
Application numberEP 90314450
Classification (CPC)G01N29/11 +2 more

Timeline

Timeline From EPO dates

1991199319951997199920012003200520072009Application filedDec 31, 1990PublishedSep 18, 1991Patent grantedApril 9, 1997Term endedDec 31, 2010

Sources & verification

Official EPO records

Full published documentClaims, description and drawings as a PDF.EPOEuropean Patent RegisterProcedure, status, file inspection and legal events.EPOLinked open EP data recordThe bibliographic record this page is built from.EPO

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Google PatentsFull text, worldwide family, citing patents and legal events.patents.google.comEspacenetNational family members and their legal status.European Patent Office

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