The USPTO offers inventors the option of filing a provisional patent application for patent that was designed to provide a lower cost first patent filing in the United States. Claims and oath or declaration are NOT required for a provisional application. A Provisional application provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a patent application and permits the term “Patent Pending” to be applied in connection with the invention. Provisional applications may not be filed for design inventions.

For filing a provisional application:

• Name and address of the inventor(s)
• Title of the invention
• Specification
• Drawings (if any)
• Information about Large Entity or Small Entity status; and
• Assignment (if any)*

The applicant would have up to 12 months to either convert the provisional into a non-provisional application for patent or to file a new non-provisional and claim priority to (equals “benefit from”) the provisional application. The claimed subject matter in the later filed non-provisional application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application as far as it finds support in the provisional application. If a provisional application is not filed in English, and a non-provisional application is filed claiming benefit from the provisional application, a translation of the provisional application will be required.

Provisional application are NOT examined on their merits.

*Assignments may be filed at any time during the prosecution of the application.