Provisional Patent Applications Can Save You $$$

Legislation effective June 6, 1995 allowed for the filing of Provisional Patent Applications by US and foreign inventors and entities in the US Patent Office.  A provisional patent application is one which does not need to necessarily meet all the formal requirements of a regular US application, and the filing fee is about 1/5 th of the regular fee.  The invention described in a Provisional Application enjoys the status of "Patent Pending" after it is filed. The provisional application is not examined by the patent office during the first year, after which time it goes abandoned unless it is converted into a regular application. This interim time frame gives the inventor the opportunity to dislcose the invention to others without having to worry about others subsequently obtaining a filing date antecedent to theirs, and allows an extra year to obtain funding, generate market interest, or make further developments. the big advantage is the defraying of costs. If the invention turns out to not be such a good idea, then monetary loss is minimized.

I have seen a lot of people who think that a provisional application totally protects them. This may be true only to the extent that all features which are desired to be claimed in the invention are adequately disclosed in the provisional in accordance with applicable statutes and rules, particularly 35 USC 112.   For, if the Provisional Application is to be successfully converted into a regular application within the one-year interim allowed, it must contain sufficient disclosure to afford protection to the invention. In other words, a later filed regular application is only as good as the quality and sufficiency of disclosure set forth in the earlier filed Provisional Application which is being relied upon. Therefore, it is in the inventor's best interest to make sure that the Provisional Application meets up to the goals of the Inventor in each case.  There are some strategic issues here, and the interested reader is encouraged to telephone me for further details.  

Thank you for visiting.

Yours very truly,

Christopher J. Whewell, Trustee

(512) 763-1142