Nationwide Provisional Patent Application Lawyer
Filing a provisional patent application is a way of starting the patent application process for only a portion of the cost of filing a regular non-provisional patent application.
Robert Plotkin at Robert Plotkin, P.C., offers specialized experience to help protect your patent ownership. Contact nationwide provisional patent application attorney Robert Plotkin today. Call toll-free: 877.451.5689 or 978.318.9914.
Boston Patent Filing Attorney
A provisional application is not examined by the U.S. patent office and will never become a patent. Further, the provisional application has a lower initial cost, but ultimately adds to the cost of the overall process because a regular patent application must still be filed before the window of time created by the provisional application expires. The decision between filing a provisional application initially and then filing a utility patent application versus filing a utility patent application to begin with is primarily a trade-off between time and money.
Myth: Filing a provisional patent application is a viable alternative to filing a regular (non-provisional) patent application.
Fact: Applying for a provisional patent is not an alternative to filing a regular (non-provisional) patent application (also called a utility (non-provisional) patent application). If you file a provisional patent application you must also file a regular non-provisional patent application within one year.
Filing a provisional patent application helps you to get your foot in the door by providing the earliest possible filing date and gives you a year in which to continue developing your invention and/or raise the funding necessary to make the more substantial investment of time and money required to file a non-provisional patent application — it is essentially a placeholder.
The filing date is very important in establishing patent rights, particularly as it pertains to competition. The earlier your filing date, the greater your chances of obtaining legally enforceable patent rights in your invention. Another way in which provisional patent applications can be used to your advantage is to continue filing provisional applications as you develop your product and combine all of them into one utility patent application. In this way, you accumulate filing dates that are sooner in time than the utility application.
Myth: You can obtain a provisional patent.
Fact: While you can file a provisional patent application, there is no such thing as a provisional patent. A provisional patent application is not examined and does not become a patent.
Filing a provisional patent application also enables you to start talking to investors without risking the forfeiture of patent rights. Importantly, provisional applications should be carefully and solidly written to avoid possible invalidation of any resulting patents, which would nullify all of the benefits of the provisional patent application. The message here is essentially that you get what you pay for. The goal is to obtain a strong, enforceable patent, to serve as the basis for a successful company or acquisition. A failed provisional application can mean the difference between a business entity being acquired and investors being secured, or not.
Massachusetts Idea Invention Protection Law Firm
Unfortunately, there is a lot of inaccurate advice out there regarding patents. Robert Plotkin at Robert Plotkin, P.C., can provide accurate, experienced advice on the optimal way to ensure patent protection, as well as creating systematic, high-quality provisional patent applications, at a fair cost. Contact Boston patent filing lawyer Robert Plotkin today to schedule an appointment.
Toll-Free: 877.451.5689
Office Phone: 978.318.9914
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