"For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. Note: Patents in force on June 8 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty year term discussed above or seventeen years from the patent grant."

RE: 17 years from issue

Patent number: 5491774...Comp General Corporation
Filing date: Apr 1994  
Issue date: Feb 13, 1996.........2013 - 2008 = 5 years

LL, how is  the... "greater of the twenty year"... and ...  "or seventeen years"  differentiated on there 1994 app. ?

 Some where edig gets ripped a year(17 + 2 year application process) on a 20 year process

doni