Filing Provisional Patent Applications for Fun and Profit
Patents are an essential leg in the business plan for people and companies developing new ideas and technology. An issued patent confers significant legal rights on its owner and is typically an essential asset, that can be the basis of financing and an expectation of a stream of revenue. In many cases, an early step in the patenting process is filing a provisional patent application. This discussion will address the issues and benefits of filing provisional patent applications. What is a Provisional Patent Application? First, let’s digress for a minute and talk about regular, non-provisional patent applications . A non-provisional patent application has substantial formal requirements. It has to be formatted in certain ways, the specification should have certain parts, it has to have claims, it has to have an inventor’s declaration, and it requires fees for search and examination. A non-provisional patent application also triggers the patent expiration clock - patents normal...