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About Provisional Patent Applications
Caution. Provisional
patent applications are not the solution for every situation.
Redirect for
provisional service
programs,
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non-provisional or basic template
download,
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provisional applications
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There is no such thing as a
provisional patent, only provisional patent applications.
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Both a provisional and a
non-provisional give you patent-pending status instantly.
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A provisional
patent application
does not speed up your protection.
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A provisional cannot be
content-corrected. Corrections to content can be made via a non-provisional application
claiming priority from the provisional.
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Inventorship corrections can be
made in a provisional
patent application if certain conditions are met, and appropriate steps taken.
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A provisional patent application will not be
examined by the USPTO and will never itself provide patent protection.
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A provisional patent application must be
replaced with a non-provisional utility patent application claiming priority from
the provisional patent application within a year of filing.
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The one-year replacement-with-non-provisional requirement is strictly
applied. There are no hardship exceptions. There are no extensions.
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A provisional patent application cannot be
converted into a design patent application.
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Applications in foreign
countries must also be filed within a year of the provisional application filing
date.
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A
disclosure
document provides date-of-invention evidence without triggering the
foreign applications deadline window, but attempts to 'get it out there' can
deep-six foreign filings. (USPTO has
discontinued disclosure document program)
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A provisional patent application provides no
priority or filing date benefits unless the description it contains is
sufficient to enable someone to practice the invention.
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If the provisional patent
application subject does not meet patentability standards (new and nonobvious),
no patent will be issued even if a non-provisional application is timely filed.
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Because a provisional patent application is
worthless if the subject matter does not meet the patentability standards, a
professional patent search is often a better first step.
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A provisional patent application is not the
customary (much less required) first step in seeking patent protection. The customary first
step in seeking patent protection is a patent search, and then a
non-provisional patent application.
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Adding a provisional-application step to
the patent application process will increase your overall costs.
Don't provisional unless there is a serious
need to delay the costs of a non-provisional patent application and the
disclosure document program is insufficient.
other topics -
provisional service programs,
provisional vs
non-provisional,
provisional
conversion,
patent-application ready
more topics -
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entry-level patent
applications,
about
patent applications,
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questions, inquiries
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contact the firm
(all modes)
or call 312.419.8055
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