A United States provisional patent application is a preliminary application that gives the inventor a short-term protection window of one year from the date the provisional patent application was filed (the “filing date”) with the United States Patent and Trademark office. The filing date is important because it establishes a priority date for the invention. Any patent applications filed by other inventors after the priority date will need to take into consideration the previously filed application.
During this one-year period, the inventor may use the term “patent-pending” when referring to their invention and may freely disclose the invention without the fear of having it copied. Within the one-year term, the inventor may choose to improve the invention, disclose the invention to potential investors and distributors, contact manufactures etc. while still retaining ownership of the invention. However, a non-provisional (regular) patent application for the invention must be filed during the one-year period to continue patent-pending status and preserve the invention.
There is no provisional patent, only a provisional patent application. The provisional application is not reviewed by the patent office.
