The distinction between a Provisional Patent Application India and a Non-Provisional Patent Application in the United States will be clarified in this post. In addition, this document and the provisional patent search will discuss the circumstances in which one might be preferred over the other.
There are two possible routes to obtaining a patent: the non-provisional patent application and the provisional patent application. The non-provisional route initiates the patent process in one step, whereas the provisional route initiates it in two steps. Either method can result in a patent if carried out correctly. The two-step provisional procedure will take approximately one year longer to obtain a patent than the one-step non-provisional procedure.
Non-Provisional Route A U.S. non-provisional patent application is one that is examined by a Patent Examiner after being properly filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. If the Examiner concludes that the claims meet the legal requirements, the non-provisional patent application may be granted a U.S. patent.A title, a rundown of the creation, an itemized portrayal of the development, at least one cases, and drawings ought to be remembered for each non-temporary patent application. A declaration or oath in accordance with the regulations in place is also required. Additionally, there will be a 530-dollar fee for small businesses.
The Temporary + Non-Temporary in something like a Year Course offers a two-step start to the patent cycle, while the Non-Temporary Application Course just offers a one-step start.
The Provisional Route begins with the provisional patent application. The inventor’s claims, oath, or declaration are not required for a provisional application. A provisional application costs less, about $125 for a small business, to submit. The provisional patent application must contain a description of your invention.
With the exception of the fact that claims do not need to be included in the provisional application, we recommend that it be written in the same manner as a non-provisional application. This will guarantee that the patent claims that result from the provisional patent application will benefit from the filing date. Additionally, for a preliminary application, we frequently draft at least a few claims. If the application does not adequately describe the invention, the inventor may have difficulty obtaining a valid patent.
A provisional application will not be granted a patent because the Patent Office will not examine it. As a result, there is no such thing as a “provisional patent,” only a “provisional patent application.”
A non-provisional patent application that claims the benefit of the provisional application and is filed within one year of the provisional application’s filing date can result in a patent. If a provisional application does not directly result in a patent, then why would you proceed with it? The non-provisional application must be submitted within a year as the second step in the two-step process.
To keep the benefit of the provisional patent application, a non-provisional patent application must be filed within a year of the provisional application’s filing date. If a non-provisional patent application claiming the benefit of the provisional application is not filed within one year of the provisional application’s filing date, the benefit of the provisional application will be lost.
It Takes Longer to Take the Provisional Route The provisional route has two steps instead of one. This is due to the fact that the provisional application is never placed in a queue for examination, and the patent office only examines non-provisional applications.
In the following example, let’s compare the two-step and one-step routes to see how this works.
Non-Temporary – One-Step Course On January 1, 2012, John’s lawyer presents a non-temporary patent application.The US Patent and Trademark Office then place the application in a queue for a patent examiner to review. Within about 24 months, an Examiner typically examines a patent application. Consequently, an Examiner will begin the examination around January 1, 2014, and will then negotiate with John’s patent attorney during patent prosecution.If John’s attorney and the Examiner can agree on the scope of the claims in the patent application, the Examiner will allow the application to become a patent.A patent can take up to three years to be granted, on average, from the filing date.If John’s situation is typical, he will receive a patent around January 1, 2015—three years after the filing date.When it is filed, the resulting patent will take effect on January 1, 2012.
Now, let’s take a look at a scenario in which John files both a provisional and non-provisional patent application within a year of each other. This would be the two-step approach.On January 1, 2012, John’s attorney submits a provisional patent application.The USPTO does not place the provisional application in the queue to be examined by an Examiner, despite the fact that John’s attorney receives a receipt from the USPTO for filing the application.Keep in mind that provisional patent applications are not subject to examination.Within a year of the provisional application’s submission, John’s lawyer sets a reminder on his calendar to submit a non-provisional patent application.John’s attorney inquires whether John intends to pursue obtaining a patent for his invention prior to January 1, 2013.If John responds “Yes,” the attorney for John files a non-provisional patent application on or before January 1, 2013, claiming the benefit of the provisional application.”With the exception of beginning one year later, the non-provisional application will now be processed in the same one-step manner as the provisional application.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has placed John’s non-provisional application in the queue for examination by a patent examiner. The examination will begin approximately two years from January 1, 2015, and the examiner will negotiate with John’s patent attorney during patent prosecution.If John’s attorney and the Examiner can agree on the scope of the claims in the patent application, the Examiner will allow the application to become a patent.If John’s circumstance is typical, he will be granted a patent on or around January 1, 2016, three years after the non-provisional application was submitted.The provisional application’s filing date will benefit the final patent, which means that it will become effective on January 1, 2012.
As a result, as can be seen, each method results in a patent with an effective filing date of January 1, 2012.However, the one-step approach results in a patent being issued one year earlier than the two-step method.
Why Choose the Provisional Method with Two Steps?
There are at least two reasons why the provisional route with two steps could be chosen.
Another reason to choose the two-step method might be that disclosure must be obtained prior to the invention’s complete development.Most of the time, new products are made at a certain time so that they can be shown to customers, shown at a career fair, or made available to everyone.U.S. patent law encourages filing a patent before certain events, like a public showing or an offer to sell an invention.Therefore, if you are on a deadline to make an offer for sale or a public showing but believe that you will further develop the invention or add features within a year, a provisional application can be drafted and filed on the invention prior to any showing to provide the most secure approach.
If additional developments are generated within the year of the first provisional application, the non-Provisional application that is filed within one year of the first provisional application can claim the benefit of each provisional application.A non-provisional application that is submitted prior to the one-year deadline may also include the new developments.At the point when the new improvements are remembered for a patent application, they might be given a recording date.This strategy reduces overall patent costs when products are developed over time and subsequent offers of the invention or showing are required.
Cost Shifting and Spreading The first reason is to reduce the initial cost and spread out the cost of filing a patent application over a year.As an illustration, let’s look at a straightforward invention.To create a non-temporary application, an extremely straightforward creation could typically cost $3500 in attorney fees.The non-provisional application filing fee for a small business is about $530. This means that the non-provisional one-step filing of the application costs $4030 all together.
Let’s now examine the same two-step procedure for submitting a provisional application.Let’s say that it cost $1500 to prepare the invention’s claims.Due to the absence of claims, the preparation of a provisional application for that invention would total $2000.A small business provisional application typically has a $125 filing fee. Because of this, submitting a provisional application for the same invention would cost $2,125, which is $1905 less than submitting a non-provisional application.Therefore, the initial cost of filing a provisional is lower than that of filing a non-provisional.
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