What is a Provisional Application?
A Provisional Application for Patent (sometimes, incorrectly, called a “Provisional Patent Application” or PPA) is a patent application, filed in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), like any other US patent application. The provisional application will be granted a filing date just like a regular utility patent application. However, unlike conventional utility patent applications: • it will not be searched or examined • it will never become a patent • it is automatically abandoned in one year • it cannot claim priority or benefit from any other application and • it does not start a 20 year patent term running.
The provisional patent application is an application that can be filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that establishes the effective filing date (priority date) of a patent application. The provisional application has a term of only twelve months. At the end of the period, the University must elect to either abandon the filing which allows the information to become public or convert the provisional application to a regular patent application.
