Temporary Provisional Patent at the US Patent Office

A temporary provisional patent filed at the US Patent Office is an interim application that is not actually a patent. A temporary provisional patent, as some people mistakenly call it, is not a patent, as the invention has not undergone examination and been approved by a patent examiner. An interim application is usually filed at the US Patent Office.

Many inventors believe that this type of application can be filed at the Israeli Patent Authority, but this is not true. A provisional patent can, however, be submitted at the US Patent Office. Sometimes mistakenly referred to as a provisory or temporary patent, the interim application grants the applicant a priority date that can be held for 12 months from the provisional patent’s filing date.

There is a difference between registered patents versus provisional patents. Registered patents grant the holder monopoly right for 20 years from the initial priority date, compared to an interim provisional application that enables the applicant to file a patent application in his target country before 12 months have elapsed from the filing date of the provisional in accordance with the Paris treaty. A patent applicant will file priority documents, i.e. documents that he orders from the US patent office to request his patent to be filed with the earlier priority date on which he filed his provisional application.

Many inventors question Is a temporary or provisional patent registered? The answer is no, this type of application does not constitute a registered patent. Despite filing the temporary or interim patent request at the US Patent Office, the owner of the invention must still file an application for a registered patent in the USA or in Israel, or in any other target country.

There may be advantages to filing an interim patent. Early filing allows the filing date to be reserved early or lowers costs for reservation of the early date. Ultimately, however, this is not an examined and approved patent.

The above details are incomplete, and a patent attorney should be consulted for each individual case. It should be confirmed that the inventor knows enough technical details to enable an application to be filed at the patent office. If insufficient technical data is available, a technical team can be employed to help the inventor prepare a conceptual plan, including technical data and illustrations for the patent attorney.