Details Of Filing A Provision Patent Application
Filing For Your Patent: 3 Steps To The Provisional Patent Application Process
It’s really simple to prepare a provisional patent application. Most folks can have it done in one day. There are three basic steps to make sure you properly put together a provisional patent application:1 – Look for inventions that are similar to yours; you want to make sure your idea is still unique.
2 – Properly describe how to create and use your invention.
3 – Entirely fill out the right forms to send off to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In-Depth Look At The Steps Of Filing A Provision Patent Application
1 – Research
It’s vitally important that you spend time making sure your invention is completely unique. You certainly want to do that before you spend any money filing for the provisional patent application.
Patent examiners will do their own research for “prior art” or previous inventions that are found in the patents or publications. If the examiner finds a similar invention – built, documented or patented – you won’t receive your patent. Be sure to avoid all this by doing your own research before you file the application.
What does it mean by prior art? It means any and all previous developments that the public can access to. Before you file the provisional application, look for publications, prior patents sales for inventions similar to yours. You can do this by the Internet.
Before you file for the regular patent application or sell your invention, be sure you thoroughly do some searching. This will involve reviewing files from the engineering libraries and USPTO. You can either do this yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
2 – Give Description About Your Invention
After you do the research, be sure to describe what the invention is, what the invention does and how you design it. You want to make sure that it’s a full in-depth description so any person in the field can reconstruct your invention. It sounds counterintuitive because you want to protect your invention. Be sure you describe it both in words and pictures.
3 – Provide Illustrations Of Your Invention
A “drawing” means any diagram of your invention – flowchart, photograph, line drawing or schematic. While there are no requirements from the USPTO on including drawings with the provisional patent application, it’s necessary if you plan on fulfilling your goal about how to create and use your invention.
The only rule (although it’s not really a rule) is that the drawings are understandable and can fit in a regular-sized file folder. It doesn’t matter if the photographs are colored, black and white computer-created and handmade drawings. You need to make sure the illustration fits with your written explanation including in how and use your invention.
Describe The Invention
When you describe your invention, be sure you answer the questions below:
- What’s the invention’s name?
- Who are the invention’s creators?
- Was it created under a government contract?
- What will it accomplish?
- What illustrations will you include?
- What parts or components will it have?
- How do they work together?
- How does it work?
- Can you create your invention in other ways?
- Can it be used in several ways?
Be sure you get the answers to the following five questions because they’re very important. After all, they’re the meat of your application, as it goes into detail about your invention, how it works and any substitute personifications. The information will create a foundation for your patent claims if you want to file a regular patent application.
The invention’s description is often known as the “specification” part of the provisional patent application. There’s no reason to include all elements in the PPA specification.
Two Ways To File Your Provisional Patent Application
You have two ways in which to file the provisional patent application:
- Snail mail
- Electronic
Every method demands you include the following four things:
- Specification
- Drawings
- Filing fee
- General information about yourself and what you are sending.