Provisional Patent Facts
An inventor may file for a provisional patent application and if it sufficiently describes the invention, his or her idea will be protected for 12 months. This gives the inventor time to show his/her invention to potential investors and market it while it is protected. If a regular, nonprovisional patent application is filed within one year of the provisional application, the inventor locks in the provisional filing date which is used for determining priority (in the event another similar application was filed near the same time).
Provisional applications must include a fair number of elements, but there are far less requirements for these than for nonprovisional applications. In addition, the price is considerably less than the cost to file a nonprovisional application. Unlike the nonprovisional application, once the PTO receives the provisional, the review process does not begin. Instead, the application is checked for its completeness, and if accepted, it will be held on file for 12 months after it is received. It will not be examined. After the 12 month holding period, the provisional application will be abandoned.
The usefulness of a provisional application lies in the fact that within the 12 month period, the applicant may file a nonprovisional application on the same invention when he/she has the time and funds to do so. If the disclosed subject matter of the nonprovisional application is found to be patentable, the application will receive the benefit of the filing date of the previously filed provisional application. In this manner, the invention is in a sense, "held" for the inventor.
Provisional applications are:
• filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(b)
• automatically abandoned 12 months after their filing date
• not allowed for design and plant applications
• only allowed for utility patents
