What is Provisional Patent Applications?

Provisional Patent Application (hereinafter PPA) is a legal document that includes descriptions and drawings of an invention which are required to know the subject matter wanted to be patented but doesn't necessarily inventor's pledge, official patent claims or declarations or any Information Disclosure Statement (IDS). A provisional application institute a premature effective filing date in single or multiple continuing patent applications later claiming the priority date of an invention disclosed in the provisional application by one or more of an identical invention.

Independent inventors usually faced the problem, how to issue their idea to probable manufactures without the risk that manufacture will filch the invention. Fortunately, Patent legislation solves this problem by giving the option to file the provisional patent application.

Difference between Provisional and Regular Patent Application:

1. It’s cheaper: A PPA costs lower compared to regular patent application to Micro, small and large entity respectively. On the other hand, more cost takes to do patent searches and gives payment to legal professionals in the making of a complete patent application.

2. It's easier: We have a choice to skip some complex steps like patent application declaration (Statement which determines we are the true and first inventor of the invention) and the Information Disclosure Statement (revelation of related information which is known to inventors).

3. It doesn't result in a patent: By PPA, we cannot get a patent directly. The PPA only allows the investor to protect their rights while one can choose whether to file a regular patent or not. An inventor must be file a Regular patent application within 1 year of the duration after file the provisional application, and the patent must be approved by the authorized patent office.

4. Secure filing date: By filing PPA, an inventor can secure their filing date for the complete patent application.

Although filing the provisional specification is a discretionary step, if an inventor is at a position where he/she has complete information about their invention then they can directly go for the complete specification (Patent application).

Contents of the Provisional Patent Application:

The contents slightly differ according to jurisdictions but it's more similar for all the patent offices across the globe.

• Title of invention

• Preamble (which starts with ‘The following specification describes the invention’)

• Description of the invention

• Description contains

  • The field of the invention also comprises the history of the invention

  • Object and statement of the invention

Note: Claims may not be part of the PPA

Things Consider while going for PPA:

• The provisional patent application is a document that defines the scope of the invention.

• A PPA is not a rough outline of your brainchild or innovation. It defines the scope of your innovative idea.

• So, every part of your invention which is out of the scope of the PPA and the inventor developed it later in the 12 months duration will fail to have an earlier priority date, hence it will not have the benefit of the priority date of the provisional application.

• Yet, if the inventor file the complete specification at a later stage then also PPA will be kept in record and doesn't replace the complete Patent application.

• The filing date and application number will be obtained by the patent office after receiving the PPA. If the complete application is not filed within 1 year of time then the patent application considered as deemed to have been abandoned.

• The language applied in the PPA has an essential role in defining its scope. During writing the description of the proposed patent then the applicant must be avoided to using limiting word like " consists", "must-have", essential" rather try to explain parts of the invention in a broader scope. For example- The applicant can use the word" writing device rather directly using the word "Pen" which include other means of writing like Pen, Marker or electric chalk, etc. Also can exclude the other writing device like a pencil from the scope.

Advantages of PPA:

Provisional Patent Application has remarkable advantages as below.

Get “Patent Pending” Label:

Though provisional patent is not a patent and it will not be transformed into a complete patent application till the inventor takes further steps for the file within one year. But the benefit of filing PPA, an inventor can lawfully mention "Patent Pending" for their invention and have secured the priority date as its filing date hence they don't require to concern about confidentiality when exposing or marketing the invention.

Secures Priority Date:

At the premature stage, the filing of PPA may not get the inventor's fullest potential of the invention but it secures the priority date provided the scope of the complete application stays the same then it gives ample time to an inventor to work on the invention to the full probable capacity.

Identify the business perspective:

If the inventors having the secured priority date for their invention then they can test the following things.

• Get an idea about the commercial value of the invention.

• To verify the marketability of the invention, get reasonable time to carry out actual market research.

• Get a reasonable time to develop the invention to its fullest capacity.

• The readiness of the other industries to license the invention than patented

Besides, an inventor can decide to move ahead with the completer patent application within 12 months and also able to do the market assessment and explore the commercial value of the proposed invention without concern about it being stolen or loss of secrecy.

Conclusion:

According to the above discussion, we can say that filing provisional patent applications has slots of advantages also has some limitations. It’s pertinent to note that, a provisional patent application is not a provisional patent. The application and its shield terminate after 12 months irrespective of the inventor files a full patent application or not. An inventor can also abandon the Provisional Patent application in some cases like a. when the invention does not have value commercially that much b. when no one ready to buy it or license it and neither inventor ready to produce the invention. Hence, an inventor should be careful while deciding on filing a provisional patent application so that it can save time and money if an inventor feels not having the potential to file as a patent.

Know more about patent laws, see the video below-

BY-

Sushama Dilip Mahasurle