A provisional patent application allows you to establish an invention date or a priority date without filing a nonprovisional regular patent application. The filing date of a provisional application serves as an early effective filing date in a later filed nonprovisional application if the nonprovisional application is filed within 12 months from the filing date of the provisional application. A provisional application is not for examination, but for securing an invention date which will serve as an effective filing date if a nonprovisional application is duly filed.

If a nonprovisional application is not filed within 12 months after filing the provisional application, the provisional application will remain dormant since it will not be ever examined and it will not be ever published. A provisional application can be filed without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It also allows the term “Patent Pending” to be applied in connection with the description of the invention.

A provisional application for patent has a pendency lasting 12 months from the date the provisional application is filed. The 12-month pendency period cannot be extended. Therefore, an applicant who files a provisional application must file a corresponding nonprovisional application for patent (nonprovisional application) during the 12-month pendency period of the provisional application in order to benefit from the earlier filing of the provisional application. However, a nonprovisional application that was filed more than 12 months after the filing date of the provisional application, but within 14 months after the filing date of the provisional application, may have the benefit of the provisional application restored by filing a grantable petition (including a statement that the delay in filing the nonprovisional application was unintentional and the required petition fee).

The corresponding nonprovisional application must contain or be amended to contain a specific reference to the provisional application. Once a provisional application is filed, an alternative to filing a corresponding nonprovisional application is to convert the provisional application to a nonprovisional application by filing a grantable petition requesting such a conversion within 12 months of the provisional application filing date.