The provisional patent application is an application that can be filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that establishes the effective filing date of a patent application. The provisional application is not examined by the USPTO, and may remain pending for one year. At the end of the period, NCSU must elect to either drop the filing and allow the information to become public or convert the provisional application to a regular patent application.

A Provisional Application, to obtain a filing date in the U.S. Patent Office, has to contain the items set forth in 37 CFR § 1.51(a)(2). The requirements of that Rule are summarized here but the reader is advised to consult the Rule personally and to be familiar with it. The Provisional Application requires a specification satisfying 35 U.S.C. § 112, except that it need not contain claims.

You can't - a Provisional Application will never become a patent. It's necessary to have a utility patent application on file, which will be examined and (hopefully) issue as a patent. There are two ways to do this without losing the benefit of your Provisional Application filing date: File a regular utility patent application within a year of the Provisional filing date, claiming priority from the Provisional.

Ans.: A patent can be issued on a subsequently filed nonprovisional application that claims the benefits of a provisional application filing date. The provisional application, itself, cannot mature into a patent.

Answer: A provisional patent application is not examined, it does not have to include any claims defining the invention precisely, it does not have to name the inventors or provide their citizenship, and it expires in one year. The purpose of a provisional patent application is to establish a filing date for the invention disclosure that may later be claimed as a "priority" date in a later-filed regular or foreign patent application.

A provisional application for patent is a U. S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. § 111(b). It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a nonprovisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111(a) and automatically becomes abandoned after one year. It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied.

After a non-provisional patent application is filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it will be examined. During the examination, an examiner will issue Office Actions. TEC-COM in-house patent attorney is responsible for overseeing the responses to these Office Actions, and will work closely with you and, possibly, outside patent attorneys specializing in your field of study, to make important decisions concerning the prosecution of your patent application.

You can't. There's no such thing. Your patent application needs to be written up just like any other patent application.

Ans.: A written description of the invention, complying with 35 U.S.C. ? 112, first paragraph; drawings, complying with 35 U.S.C. ? 113; the filing fee; and a cover sheet.

Since June 8, 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States. Applicants are entitled to claim the benefit of a provisional application in a corresponding non-provisional application filed not later than 12 months after the provisional application filing date. Under the provisions of 35 U.S.C.

A provisional patent application is exactly that, an application. It will never result in an actual patent unless you convert it to a regular utility patent application. There are advantages to filing a provisional patent application if your product is ready for licensing (i.e. a thorough patent and market search has been done, a working prototype exists, and an analysis of cost of manufacturing vs. retail selling price has been done).

A9: A provisional U.S. Patent application can be served as a place holder to establish a priority date. If the inventor does not have enough information to file a regular application but wishes to claim an earlier filing date, he/she can file a provisional application (which need not contain any claim) first. Then, the inventor can convert the application into a regular one within one year of the filing date of the provisional application.

From USPTO web site (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/provapp.htm) - "(Filing a provisional patent application)... allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a non-provisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(a). It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied.