Boulder and Denver Provisional Patent Attorney

Provisional Patent Applications

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which is designed to provide an easy, low-cost alternative to receive a filing date for their invention. The provisional application filing date then allows the applicant to claim an earlier effective filing date in their later filed regular patent application. A provisional application is easier to file because it can be filed without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, and information disclosure statement. Provisional applications are not examined and thus the filing, search, and examination fees are much smaller.

Once you file provisional application you must file a non-provisional application within the 12 month pendency of the provisional in order to get the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application. This 12-month pendency period cannot be extended. By filing a provisional application first, and then filing a corresponding non-provisional application that references the provisional application within the 12-month provisional application pendency period, a patent term endpoint may be extended by as much as 12 months. Filing your provisional also grants you the ability to use the terms “Patent Pending” to describe your invention during its pendency. Under certain circumstances you may also have “provisional rights” to obtain reasonable royalties from duly notified infringers.

Provisional Application For Patent Filing Date Requirements

The provisional application must be made in the name(s) of all of the inventor(s). It can be filed up to 12 months following the date of first sale, offer for sale, public use, or publication of the invention, whichever occurs first. These pre-filing disclosures, although protected in the United States, may (and usually do) preclude patenting in foreign countries.

A filing date will be accorded to a provisional application only when it contains:

• a proper written description of the invention;
• any drawings necessary to understand the invention;
• a cover sheet; and,
• a filing fee.

If either of these items are missing or incomplete, no filing date will be accorded to the provisional application.

IMPORTANT WARNINGS

A provisional application automatically becomes abandoned when its pendency period expires 12 months after the provisional application filing date by operation of law.

An applicant whose invention is “in use”, “known”, or “on sale” in the United States; or “printed” or “patented” anywhere in the world during the 12 month provisional application pendency period may lose the right to ever patent the invention if the 12 month provisional application pendency period expires before a corresponding non-provisional application is filed.

An applicant should understand that a provisional application will never mature into a granted patent without further submissions by the inventor.

Patent Lawyer Services

Patent law is primarily federal law, as such, the law firm of Hunziker Legal Services is happy to provide attorney services to those clients that come from around the world by phone, fax, letter, and email. If you live in any of the following areas you may also come to my Denver or Boulder, Colorado office to meet me in person, my patent law firm is located in Colorado close to: Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Broomfield, Westminister, Arvada, Northglenn, Thornton, Centennial, Lakewood, Brighton, Berkley, Aurora, Columbine, Commerce City, Englewood, Federal Heights, Golden, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Parker, Sheryl Wood, Welby, and Wheat Ridge..

I offer the following services:

• Patent Searching
• Software and Business Method Patent Searching
• Chemical Patent Searching
• Biological Patent Searching
• Patent Drawings
• Provisional Patent Applications
• Utility Patents
• Software and Business Method Patent Applications
• Chemical and Biological Patent Applications
• Foriegn and PCT Patent Applications
• Design Patent Applications
• Plant Patent Applications
• Correction of Patents and Reissue Patent Applications
• Office Actions
• Interferences
• Appeals
• Patent Maintenance
• Patent Licensing and Assignments
• Patent Enforcement and Litigation
• Patent Opinions and Consultation
• Patent FAQ’s
• Patent Fees

Copyright claimed in formatting, modifications, and links exclusive of U. S. government Publication https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/

Use of HunzikerLegalServices.com the (‘Site’) is governed by the Site Usage Terms, use of the site constitutes acceptance of those Terms.

---

All rights reserved © 2007-18, Hunziker legal Services, PLLC

Site Usage Terms