PatentEase file extensions

Filing a provisional patent application preserves the inventor's right to file a regular, or non-provisional patent application within one year of the filing date of the provisional application. This earlier date may prevent another party from asserting intervening rights if the party files a patent application between the provisional and non-provisional filing dates and that party has invented the same invention. Be sure to convert your provisional patent application into a non-provisional application within the one year, or you will never receive an issued patent for your invention. Although the Patent and Trademark Office will accept very little description of the invention and very rough hand sketches of the drawings, you are strongly advised to make your provisional patent application as complete as possible, providing all of the standard parts of a regular patent application and even including at least one claim -- the legal definition of the invention -- with your provisional patent application. When the provisional patent application has been filed, you may refer to your product as "patent pending." The filing fee for a provisional patent application is less than that of a non-provisional patent application.