Filing a provisional patent application guards against rip-offs while buying time to file a regular patent application.
Inventors know that inventions are often new solutions to old problems. An invention by Congress -- the provisional patent application -- is a good example. It provides an excellent solution to a nettlesome issue for independent inventors: how to show their brainchild to potential manufacturers without getting ripped off.
The Problem
Although most potential manufacturers can be trusted to play fair, few inventors wish to rely exclusively on trust when disclosing an invention. But for a variety of sensible reasons, most manufacturers are unwilling to sign binding nondisclosure agreements before even seeing an invention.
To resolve this standoff, inventors have traditionally used two approaches to protecting their invention when disclosing it to potential manufacturers.
Some build and test an invention before arranging a show-and-tell session with a potential manufacturer. If they have carefully documented the building and testing process, they can later disprove the manufacturer's claim to be the true inventor if a ripoff is attempted.
Or, an inventor may file a patent application and mark the invention with a "patent pending" label before shopping it around. Few manufacturers will risk ripping off an invention if they realize they may later be hit with a patent infringement lawsuit if the patent is ultimately issued.
Unfortunately, both of these approaches are increasingly flawed. As technologies become more complex -- biotechnology, nanotechnology and software development come to mind -- independent inventors find it harder to build and test inventions based on them. And filing a regular patent application is a lot of work and can be very expensive if an attorney is used.
The Solution
Congress gives inventors a third approach: File a provisional patent application (PPA) on the invention. Filing a PPA allows an inventor to claim "patent pending" status for the invention for 12 months, but involves only a small fraction of the work and cost of a regular patent application. All that is required to file a PPA is an $80 fee ($160 for large companies) and:
- a detailed description of the invention telling how to make and use it (the legal standards for the description are the same as those for a regular patent application),
- informal drawing(s), if they are needed to understand how to make and use the invention, and
- a one-page cover sheet.
If you have written a technical paper for a journal, you can submit it as the description of the invention, as long as it meets the legal standards for describing how to make and use the invention.
