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Provisional Patent Application
Since June 8, 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional patent application. Provisional patent application was designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States and to give U.S. applicants parity with foreign applicants under the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements.
A provisional patent application is a U. S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO. Provisional patent application allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure or prior art statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a non-provisional patent application filed. It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied.
A provisional patent application (provisional application) has a pendency period that will last 12 months from the date the provisional application is filed. The 12-month pendency period cannot be extended. Therefore, an applicant who files a provisional patent application must file a corresponding non-provisional application for patent (non-provisional application) during the 12-month pendency period of the provisional patent application in order to benefit from the earlier filing of the provisional patent application.
Once a provisional patent application is filed, an alternative to filing a corresponding non-provisional application is to convert the provisional application to a non-provisional application by filing a grantable petition requesting such a conversion within 12 months of the provisional application filing date.
However, converting a provisional patent application to a non-provisional application (versus filing a non-provisional application claiming the benefit of the provisional application) will have a negative impact on patent term. The term of a patent issuing from a non-provisional application resulting from the conversion of a provisional application will be measured from the original filing date of the provisional application.
By filing a provisional patent application first, and then filing a corresponding non-provisional application that references the provisional patent application within the 12-month provisional patent application pendency period, a patent term endpoint may be extended by as much as 12 months.
To be complete, a provisional patent application must also include the filing fee and a cover sheet containing the following:
* the application as a provisional patent;
* the name(s) of all inventors;
* inventor residence(s);
* title of the invention;
* name and registration number of attorney or agent and docket number (if applicable);
* correspondence address; and
* any US Government agency that has a property interest in the application.
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