Provisional patent application

What a provisional application is

The USPTO describes a provisional application as a lower-cost way to establish an early effective filing date for a later nonprovisional utility application. USPTO public guidance states that a provisional is not required to include a formal patent claim or an oath or declaration, and that an information disclosure (prior art) statement should not be filed because provisionals are not examined.

The written description still has to describe the invention. Drawings are required when they are necessary to understand it. A cover sheet identifies the filing as a provisional application. Those requirements come from USPTO's own provisional application overview, not from Persoona.

What a provisional application is not

• It is not examined on the merits. The USPTO will not decide novelty, obviousness, or allowability on a provisional alone.
• It does not become an issued patent. There is no "provisional patent." The phrase people use is "patent pending" after a qualifying application is on file.
• It cannot be filed for a design. Design applications use a different path.
• It does not replace a search of prior art or a conversation with registered counsel about what, if anything, is worth claiming.

Provisional versus nonprovisional

Both are United States patent applications. They do different jobs. A later nonprovisional utility application can claim the benefit of an earlier provisional under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) if it is filed within 12 months of the provisional filing date and the earlier disclosure supports the later claims.

The 12-month clock

A provisional application is automatically abandoned 12 months after its filing date unless a corresponding nonprovisional application is filed and claims the benefit in time. USPTO materials treat that anniversary as a hard deadline. Missing it means the provisional filing date is no longer available to that later application.

Foreign filing under the Paris Convention, if relevant, also generally runs on a 12-month clock from the first filing. Whether that path applies to a given invention is a counsel question, not something this page can decide.

What it costs

There are two separate kinds of cost, and they should not be mixed together.

1. USPTO fees. The Office charges a filing fee that depends on entity size (micro, small, or large). Those amounts are published on the USPTO fee schedule and change over time. This page does not quote a dollar figure so it cannot go stale.
2. Drafting and counsel. If you hire a registered practitioner, their fee is a private engagement. It varies with the complexity of the disclosure. Persoona does not set, collect, or mark up those fees. Founders contact counsel directly.

Related tools on Persoona

These pages already exist. Use them before you spend on a filing or a first attorney meeting. Every Persoona patent deliverable is a draft for human review.

• Prior art search

  Run a preliminary Google Patents search and see the closest published documents before you lock a date.

• Patent application formality check

  Screen a draft for claim-reference, abstract-length, and text-formatting issues. It is a limited text screen, not an examination.

• Find a patent attorney

  Directory of USPTO-registered patent attorneys and agents, sourced from the Office of Enrollment and Discipline roster.

• For patent attorneys

  Registered practitioners can claim a listing and reach inventors who arrive with a prior-art read and a draft package.