Provisional Patent: Beware of the risks

Provisional Patent?

Provisional patent applications (PPAs) are the first step in securing your invention rights. However, there is no such thing as a provisional patent. That means, you cannot assert rights by simply filing a PPA. Some like to consider a provisional application as a “temporary placeholder.” While such attribution to a PPA might not be 100% accurate, for the purposes of ones rights, considering a PPA as a temporary placeholder can help an inventor understand the limited rights offered by the PPA.

provisional patent

But why is it important?

Often, inventors hesitate in discussing their inventions with potential investors/partners worrying that their idea could be compromised. A PPA not only reserves your invention filing date, but can also help you secure funding for your invention without having to worry about someone else stealing your idea. By filing a PPA you are letting the world know that you are planning on asserting your rights on the invention and have taken a meaningful step towards that goal. In short, a PPA can dissuade people from stealing your idea while you pitch the idea to secure funding.

How to file a provisional patent application?

One can seek the services of  reputable patent professional to draft a PPA. However, patent professionals are usually expensive. If money is a problem, one can lower their out of pocket costs by using our free patent application generator prior to seeking the services of a patent professional. Our free patent document generator guides you in a step-by-step manner. It assists you to flesh out all necessary details required to file a meaningful patent application. It also pre-fills all required government forms, formats the invention disclosure and drawings per applicable patent laws. For example, often inventors incorrectly presume that a 1-2 page invention disclosure is enough to file a PPA. However, such a minimal disclosure is usually not enough. Thus, a fault sense of security is often more problematic than the disclosure itself.

We encourage inventors to try our patent application generator to lower their out of pocket costs. You will be amazed by the results produced by the system. No credit card/payment/ commitment needed.