Benefits Of Filing A Provisional Patent

Posted by Jared Shaw on February 19th, 2016

The success of any patent application is mainly decided by the date it is filed on. Any party that registers the patent first with respect to any innovation or invention or discovery gets the first right to claim the ownership and can thus reap its subsequent benefits. The United States (US) introduced the option of provisional patent for patent filers in year 1995. If you know how to file a provisional patent it will ensure huge savings in terms of costing, advantages, time, term benefits as well as the prior commercial promotion of that intellectual property. These were mainly proposed to give US patent filers an equal footing with filers across the world.

The tenure of provisional patent is for a year. The filer is required to register an application regarding non-provisional patent in the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) before that year ends. The office then examines the non-provisional patent and uses the application date of patent to determine its patentability. In case, a patent is issues, the 2 decades patent period will commence right from the date when non-provisional patent application was filed.
The biggest advantage of provisional patent is that it allows you to save great deal in terms of investment. Filing fees is usually very less and the application process is pretty simple. Also, the provisional patent application doesn’t include complicated requirements like formal claims, declarations, or oaths. You wouldn’t even need information disclosures and prior art statements.

If you wish to reap the benefits of earliest application date, make sure the non-provisional patent is adequately supported by a provisional patent application along with complete invention description explaining all about its scope and estimated profits. Note that the common information between two subsequent applications will be subject to early patent application date benefits.

In case the patent matter is under consideration, you can always promote it with a mark of “pending patent”. It will allow the inventor to raise funds for further research and investor interest while the court gives final verdict on the patent issue. But remember that any new discovery you make with respect to the invention you have filed the provisional patent month would require a separate patent application even if it takes place within first 12 months of application. Also, stay attentive to certain precautions like filing the non-provisional patent within 12 months of provisional patent application. If you do it after that, it will considered as prior art.

Read More About : file non provisional patent