All the inventions that are created should also be equivalently protected from the fear of getting copied or stolen. Moreover, as the process of registering an invention is quite lengthy and complicated, there are people who wait for their application to be completed along with all the relevant documents. Since the entire process of filing a patent can be time taking, therefore the USPTO has developed a technique of provisional application, which is basically a lighter version of the formal patent application and is filed at a patent office. The benefit of filing a provisional patent application is that you get to secure or protect your invention for a year’s duration and in the meantime prepare relevant documents to get your invention fully patented. Unlike an actual patent application, a provisional application is usually not examined by a patent office and therefore can never issue into a United States Patent unless and until it is followed by an actual patent application within a year. If an actual patent application is not filed within a year, the provisional patent application will be discarded and the invention would not be safe anymore.
Provisional applications are required to follow the same format as a non-provisional patent application except that the claims should be omitted. However, there are some necessary steps that should be followed in order to file these patents in the correct format. Some simple steps that can assist you in filing a provisional patent are:
- Print a provisional patent application from the USPTO website and also the necessary guidelines that should be followed while filing a patent. Information that should be given in the form is the names of all the inventors that are involved in creating the invention, the inventor’s residence information and also the title to the invention.
- Draft a detailed description of all the necessary and include the necessary drawing to explain your project in a better manner. A formal patent claim, oath or declaration is not required to be drafted with the provisional application.
- There is also a decided amount of fee that should be included along the application. Necessary information can be obtained from the USPTO website. Finally, combine all the documents, which include the cover sheet, descriptions, drawings and applicable fee and should be mailed at the USPTO official address.
The above mentioned steps will easily answer all the inventors’ queries on how to patent an invention in a short span of time. However, this patent process is just a safeguard for your invention for a year’s duration, which should later be filed as a proper patent application.
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