Jite Intellectual Property: Why file a provisional patent application?
Filing for a provisional patent is an important first step in protecting your invention. It sets an early patent filing date for your invention as you finalize your invention, complete your non-provisional patent application, seek funding, and conduct market research. Having a provisional application means you can disclose details about your invention to everyone while it is "patent pending." (You may use the “Patent Pending” label throughout the 12-month provisional period or throughout the review period of a nonprovisional utility.) Additionally, the USPTO will not issue a provisional application for fear of compromising the confidentiality of your invention.
Provisional applications are cheaper and easier to file than non-provisional patent applications, can be completed quickly, and should be completed before the invention is publicly disclosed, although it can be done after. Best of all, filing a provisional application establishes an official filing date with the USPTO - now that the PTO is going from "first to invent" to "first to invent," your filing date is the only important determining factor in who gets a patent.
With a provisional application, you can promote your invention with confidence. Finally, if you significantly improve or change your invention after filing a provisional application, or decide not to proceed with a non-provisional application, the lower cost and turnaround time of a provisional application means you haven't experienced something more costly. and non-temporary processes that are premature or unnecessarily difficult. Finally, multiple provisional applications can be combined into a later-filed non-provisional application - if your first provisional application fully details the invention that appears in your non-provisional application, you can get the earliest filing of the entire application Dates were invented!