Provisional Patents

The provisional patent is a lower-cost and stripped-down first patent filing to secure a filing date available for United States patents.

A provisional patent is a low-cost mechanism to secure a filing date for a later non-provisional patent.  Since the United States is a first-to-file jurisdiction, it is critical to secure the earliest filing date possible for your patent.  Under U.S. patent law, a subsequently-filed non-provisional patent can claim the filing date of the provisional patent as long as the provisional patent is sufficiently detailed to support the claims of in the non-provisional patent disclosure. Provisional patents are not examined and serve only to preserve the filing date.

A provisional patent expires one year from its filing date. After filing, the USPTO will send official correspondence with the filing date.

The USPTO basic provisional patent filing fee of $280 is due at the time of filing.  Based on the 2019 survey of patent attorneys published by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, mean attorney fees for filing a provisional patent in the DC metropolitan area is $3500.  Accordingly, You should budget at least $3800 for filing a provisional patent application.