Provisional Patent Filing

Provisional patent application is filed when the invention is not fully ready. A well drafted provisional patent provides patent pending rights to establish inventorship and patent ownership as patent office follows first to file approach to determine the true inventor of a patent covering new idea or product.

Formulating a sound patent strategy for your technology driven company is very important in the current era. Across the globe, the in-house patent counsels, heads of research departments, tech based startups and inventors file a preliminary patent application for their invention / idea before the patent office and is known as provisional patent application.

How to Patent a Product?

It is extremely common for the inventors to ask this question about patenting a novel and inventive product. The first and foremost requirement for inventors while planning for patent process is to maintain proper records of their invention. In essence, laboratory notebooks, idea related documentation, technical specification and other details should be recorded with date, which can establish clear inventorship and ownership of the invention at a later date. It is common for the inventors to docket each and every step of the inventive process, inventive product and novel aspects of the invention, with a view to determine the patentability or patent eligibility of the invention. 

Subsequently, a detailed and thorough patent search is conducted to determine the relevant prior art, which can challenge the novelty and inventive step (non-obviousness) of the invention. While conducting a patent search, the patent searcher or the patent attorney conducts detailed patent search and analysis across various databases, such as, for example, Google Patents, USPTO Patent Database, EPO, UKIPO, JPO etc. Such patent search is conducted by forming multiple patent search strings and using these strings in different combinations by using boolean operators like AND, OR etc.

How much does it cost to file a patent?

The cost of filing a patent and obtaining patent rights depend upon multiple steps. The patent filing process begins by engaging a patent attorney, who charges a fee for conducting a patent search and drafting a patent application, which may be a provisional patent application (PPA) followed by a non-provisional patent application (NPA), or a NPA directly. The professional charges for patent searching and patent drafting by a competent patent attorney may be in the range of 2000$ to 8000$, or maybe upwards depending upon the jurisdiction of the patent and experience of the patent lawyer. Additional component to calculate the patent cost includes official filing fee, which again varies for each jurisdiction and is further dependent upon the category of the patent applicant, i.e. one or more natural person(s) or one or more legal entities. 

Once a patent application is filed, additional cost is required to maintain the pending patent application, and once the patent office issues a patent office action or a patent examination report, further cost is incurred for responding to such objections by way of patent office action response. Thereafter, once the patent prosecution process is complete, patent renewal fee is required to be paid at regular intervals during the term of the patent. Hence, as may be seen, the total cost of a patent depends upon multiple steps, subject to the jurisdiction and requirements specified by the local patent office.

How do you patent an idea or a product?

To protect a new idea or a new product, a well crafted patent strategy is required that ensures that the new idea or the new product is not infringed by third parties. One important point to be considered is that patent laws across various countries or jurisdictions require that a patent application must be filed before disclosing or discussing the idea publicly. This is so because once a new idea is shared publicly without filing a patent application, it becomes public knowledge and anyone is free to execute the idea.

How do I turn my idea into a product?

Successful conversion of new ideas into products requires detailed market research, development of prototypes and appropriate patent marketing. Operationally, patent licensing opportunities can be determined by conducting thorough studies about market potential, financial and technical due diligence, regulatory analysis and SWOT analysis.

What is a provisional patent application?

The provisional patent application is a legal document filed before the patent office (For example,  United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Indian Patent Office (IPO) or any other patent office.) If a US national is filing patent before the USPTO, the patent application would be known as U.S. national patent application having validity in U.S. alone. Even though, formal set of patent claims are not mandatory in the provisional patent filing we recommend our clients to write a broad set of patent claims in the provisional patent application. 

However, in order to obtain a granted patent, the patent applicant must fully and particularly describe the invention  in detail and describe the best mode in a complete specification. It is important to remember the deadline for filing Non-provisional patent application. Once the Non-provisional patent application in filed in the home country, one can file international PCT patent before the WIPO.

Missing the deadline for patent filing of complete / non-provisional patent application [12 months from filing provisional patent application] will cause irreparable loss and the provisional application will simply expire.

To read more articles related to Provisional patent applications: click here

Frequently Asked Questions by Inventors

• Why is priority date of patent claims of a complete patent specification important?

Priority date implies the earliest date from which the patent rights begin, and while determining the term of a patent or during patent infringement lawsuits, the priority date plays a crucial role.

• Why to file a provisional patent application before filing a non-provisional patent specification

It is common for inventors to develop prototypes and pen down ideas during early stages before finalising the exact features of the invention. To ensure appropriate protection during this period, and to establish ownership by creating patent pending rights, it is important for the inventors to file a provisional patent application.

Provisional Patent Application

A provisional application is a summary of the invention and is filed to protect the invention at its early stage.

Since 8th June, 1995, U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has provided inventors the choice of filing a provisional application for patent which was intended to provide a lower-cost prior patent filing within the United States and to administer U.S. applicants equality with foreign applicants under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round Agreements.

If an applicant has filed the a Provisional Patent Application for grant of patent he/she has to file the Non-Provisional/Complete Patent Application filed under U.S. Code § 111 of Title 35, within a period of 12 months from the date of filing of the provisional application or else the application will be considered to be abandoned. The pendency period of 12 months cannot be extended, but if the Non-Provisional/Complete Patent Application is filed after 14 months of filing the Provisional Patent Application, such application may be accepted by filing a grantable petition (including a statement that the delay in filing the Non-Provisional/Complete Patent Application was not deliberate and the required petition fee has been paid) to reinstate the advantages under 37 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 1.78.

Non-Provisional/Complete Patents v. Provisional Patents

> Non-Provisional/Complete Patents are most undeviating and therefore, the shortest path to grant of patents, whereas, Provisional Patents have a much lower cost of applying as compared to Non-Provisional/Complete Patents.

> A Non-Provisional/Complete Patents is good for inventions that have a short half life much like electronics and software which are about to be launched into the market, whereas, Provisional Patents are good for inventions that take time for R&D and thus needs to be kept under wraps by getting an additional year for filing for grant of the patent with complete specifications of the patent.

> In case the applicant wants to make additions after filling for Non-Provisional/Complete Patents, he/she has to do it by re-filing those addition inventions, whereas in Provisional Patents, the applicant has one whole year to make all the changes he/she wants in the patent and it also benefits the applicant by addition one extra year to the patent life (i.e., from 20 years to 21 years).

> One can only file his/her patents application as Non-Provisional/Complete Patent, in one time, whereas multiple Provisional Patent Applications may be filed by the applicant and be considered as one at the end of one year.

Limitation of Provisional Patent Applications

With some benefits, the Provisional Patents also attract certain limitations which are as follows:

1) The Provisional Patents Applications cost more than Complete Applications since the effort put in is double.

2) Even though the patent specifications will be kept from public record, the invention will has to be disclosed.

3) In case the applicant misses the one year deadline of filing the Non-Provisional/Complete Patent Application, the application will be considered as abandoned.

Filing of Provisional Patents Applications

A filing date will be granted to a Provisional Patent Application only when it contains a written description of the invention, fulfilling with all requirements of U.S. Code § 112(a) of Title 35.

The USPTO provides the following two documents for filing of Provisional Patent Application which have to be filled by either the applicant himself or his/her legal representative:

* Provisional Cover Sheet identifying;

* the application as a provisional application for patent;

* the name(s) of all inventors;

* inventor residence(s);

* title of the invention;

* name and registration number of attorney or agent and docket number (if applicable);

* correspondence address; and

* any U.S. Government agency that has a property interest in the application.

* Fee Transmittal Form as set forth in 37 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 1.16(d)

The provisional application (written description and drawings), filing fee and cover sheet can be filed electronically using EFS-Web or filed by mail.

Electronically Using EFS-Web: The provisional application can be filed electronically only if EFS-Web is used. EFS-Web permits patent applications, together with provisional applications, to be filed safely via the Internet. Applicants prepare documents in Portable Document Format (PDF), attach the documents, authenticate that the PDF documents will be well-matched with USPTO internal automated information systems, submit the documents, and pay fees with real-time payment processing. When fillable EFS-Web forms are used, the data entered into the forms is robotically loaded into USPTO information systems. Further information on EFS-Web is available here.

By Mail: The provisional application and filing fee can be mailed to:

Commissioner for Patents

P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, VA 22313-145

USPTO Patent Filing

What information to include in a provisional patent application while filing it before US patent office USPTO ?

Many a times, our patent clients ask about what all information we should provide which can be included in the provisional patent application. However,  it is a known fact that you get protection for matter you disclose in the patent application. Having said that, it is important to include as much technical information as possible in the provisional patent disclosure.

The provisional patent application should describe the nature of invention & contain the description of essential elements of the invention. A provisional patent application with detailed explanation provides a good skeleton for the patent attorney to convert it into a utility / non-provisional patent application.

For example, a start-up research company is in phase I for making a new antibody to a particular antigen, but lack finances to actually create the antibody itself. Generally, in such a scenario the start-up research company will pitch the idea to the venture capital entities in exchange for the monetary funds needed to create the antibody. It is advisable for the start-up research company to first file a provisional patent application that includes details about the particular antigen and novel description for the same. More details of the main elements should be included in the provisional patent application.

Advantages for Filing Provisional Patent Application

• Priority for invention (Priority filing date)
• No risk of losing priority
• Develop invention in 12 months
• Disclose to interested person to obtain financial support after signing Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• Utilise the time period  or exploring commercial feasibility
• If no commercial viability of the idea, no need to file non-provisional patent application

Patent Research Services

As a patent centric firm managed by highly experienced patent attorneys and patent lawyers, we retrieve and provide clients with strong patentability analysis reports in addition to provisional patent application drafting, which can save time and money during the entire patent process. Such thorough patent research is aligned with the business strategy and corporate evaluations of the clients, so that potentially strong patent applications are filed to create a valuable patent portfolio, thereby adding to the intangible assets owned by the clients.

Advocate Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter

Quoted in and contributed to 50+ national & international publications (Bloomberg, FirstPost, SwissInfo, Outlook Money, Yahoo News, Times of India, Economic Times, Business Standard, Quartz, Global Legal Post, International Bar Association, LawAsia, BioSpectrum Asia, Digital News Asia, e27, Leaders Speak, Entrepreneur India, VCCircle, AutoTech)

Regularly invited to speak at international & national platforms (conferences, TV channels, seminars, corporate trainings, government workshops) on technology, patents, business strategy, legal developments, leadership & management

Working closely with patent attorneys along with international law firms with significant experience with lawyers in Asia Pacific providing services to clients in US and Europe. Flagship services include international patent and trademark filings, patent services in India and global patent consulting services.

Global Blockchain Lawyers (www.GlobalBlockchainLawyers.com) is a digital platform to discuss legal issues, latest technology and legal developments, and applicable laws in the dynamic field of Digital Currency, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and raising capital through the sale of tokens or coins (ICO or Initial Coin Offerings).

Blockchain ecosystem in India is evolving at a rapid pace and a proactive legal approach is required by blockchain lawyers in India to understand the complex nature of applicable laws and regulations.

Patent Office Action

Once a patent application is filed with the patent office, patent applicants are required to submit request for early publication of patent application in addition to request for patent examination. Once a patent examination request is filed, the patent office examines the patent application in accordance with patent procedure and provides a patent examination report (patent office action) to the patent applicants.

Indian Patent Office Procedure

As per the procedure followed by the Indian Patent Office, the patent specification filed by the patent applicant includes invention details and patent claims. As it is well known, the most important aspect of the patent application are the patent claims because the patent claims define the scope of the invention.

Patent Examination in India

Generally, the patent examiner issues an office action setting forth the basis for rejecting one or more patent claims with respect to prior art / novelty patent search conducted by the patent examiner. The patent applicant responds with amendments in patent claims/ patent drawings and/or arguments, and the examiner issues a next office action, etc. This process continues until the patent application is allowed, abandoned, or appealed.

First Examination Report – FER

In accordance with applicable laws and rules, patent applicants are required to submit a detailed response the patent examination report (FER or first examination report) within 6 months of issuance of the first examination report or the office action. A general strategy that can be followed to draft office action response includes preparing submissions for each of the objections raised by the patent examiner. For example, for objections relating to novelty and inventive step (non-obviousness), one of the strategies can be to amend the patent claims by limiting the scope of originally filed claims. This can be done in consultation with a patent attorney, whereby, certain features from the dependent claims (or detailed description) can be added to the independent claims to ensure that the amended claims are novel and inventive as compared to the prior arts (patent and non-patent literature) cited by the patent examiner. Therefore, chances of overcoming such objections get better when novel aspects of the invention are combined with the independent claims.

Patentability of Invention

When a patent application is examined by the patent office, the primary goal of the patent examiner is to determine the patentability of the invention as defined by the patent claims, as described in detail by the patent description, and as illustrated by way of patent drawings. The intention is to ensure that the technology covered by the patent application is new and the subject matter of the patent description and patents claims was not disclosed in public domain before the date of filing of patent application, or before the first priority date of the patent application.

Definition of Invention

In accordance with the Indian Patents Act, 1970, definition of invention and inventive step include:

Section 2(1) (j) “invention” means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application;

Section 2(1) (ja) “inventive step” means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art;

In essence, the inventive step of the technology to be patented should illustrate technical advancement or economic significance in the subject matter of the patent application as compared to the existing knowledge which is already known to a person skilled in the similar domain.

View of Indian Courts on Determining Inventive Step

In Biswanath Prasad Radhey Shyam vs Hindustan Metal Industries Ltd, it was held by the Indian Supreme court that “The expression” does not involve any “inventive step” and its equivalent word “obvious”, have acquired special significance in the terminology of Patent Law. The ‘obviousness’ has to be strictly and objectively judged. For this determination, several forms of the question have been suggested. Was it for Practical Purposes obvious to a skilled worker, in the field concerned, in the state of knowledge existing at the date of the patent to be found in the literature then available to him, that he would or should make the invention the subject of the claim concerned?

To determine Invention Step, the following points should be taken into consideration:

(a) Identify the “person skilled in the art”, i.e. a competent craftsman in same domain or engineer as distinguished from a mere artisan

(b) Identify the relevant common general knowledge of that person at the priority date of filing the patent application;

(c) Identify the inventive concept of the patent claim in question;

(d) Identify what, if any, differences exist between the matter cited as forming part of the “state of the art” of the technology and the inventive concept of the patent claims;

Industrial Applicability of the Invention

The invention as claimed in patent specification should meet the criteria that the invention can be made or used in some kind of industry. The word “Industry” broadly refers to having any useful and practical activity while excluding intellectual or aesthetic activity.

Under section 2(1)(ac) of Indian Patents Act, “capable of industrial application”, in relation to an invention, means that the invention is capable of being made or used in an industry.

However, patent claims relating to “Method of playing games” and “computer programming languages” are not considered to be industrially applicable. The detailed description of the patent specification must disclose a practical application and industrial use for the claimed invention wherein a concrete benefit must be derivable directly from the description coupled with common general knowledge.

Therefore, while drafting patent application, writing the advantages of the invention in the last few paragraphs will be helpful to illustrate the industrial applicability of the invention.

Sufficiency of Disclosure

While drafting a patent application, writing the detailed description of the patent application includes explaining each and every element of the patent claims. One should note that the patent examiner takes into consideration the whole patent document which is read with patent claims and drawings (if any) to determine patentability of the invention.

‘What’ is the invention and ‘How to perform it’ requirement should be taken care off before submitting the Patent Application before the Indian Patent Office. The complete specification should therefore disclose the invention completely to meet the requirement of the Patents Act and should also enable a person skilled in the art to work the invention without any assistance of the patentee or any further experimentation.

What is the Invention: If the patent application relates to apparatus/system/device in a computer related invention (hardware based inventions), each and every feature of the invention should be described with drawings. However, if the said system/device/apparatus patent claims are worded in such a way that they merely and only comprise of a memory which stores instructions to execute the previously claimed method and a processor to execute these instructions, then this set of claims claiming a system/device /apparatus may be deemed as conventional and may not fulfil the eligibility criteria of patentability.

Law Office of Rahul Dev, Patent Attorneys and Technology Corporate Lawyers, represents a law firm headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, with associate offices in New Delhi, in the proximity of the Indian Patent and Trademark Office. We are primarily focused on intellectual property law and provide patent services and patent consultation for large, multi-national corporations, universities, middle-market and emerging market companies, and startups and entrepreneurs.

Patent Prosecution in India

We handle patent prosecution in India by facilitating the interaction between inventors, patent applicants and Indian patent office, which usually includes highly complex technical and legal issues. Our team has significant experience in handling the entire patent process in India and we possess strong understanding of the relevant procedures and the potential pitfalls.

We have successfully advised our clients to obtain patent protection in India and across international jurisdictions (US, Europe, UK, Singapore, Malaysia) for a wide scale of technologies, and our patent attorneys possess years of experience in patent research, patent prior art searches, patentability analysis, patent analytics, patent application drafting, patent claim drafting, patent prosecution, , licensing, and other intellectual property-related issues.

Software Patent FAQs:

• How are software patents granted in India?
• Does Indian patent law allow software patents?
• How to apply for software patent in India?
• How to patent a software in India?
• How to patent a mobile application in India?
• What are the examples of software patents in India?

How to Patent an Idea

General Patent FAQs:

• What is a Provisional Patent Application?
• What are advantages of Filing a Provisional Patent Application?
• How can Patent Search help in determining Patentability of Invention?
• What is the meaning of Patent Pending Status?

Advocate Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyerpracticing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyeron Twitter

Quoted in and contributed to 50+ national & international publications(Bloomberg, FirstPost, SwissInfo, Outlook Money, Yahoo News, Times of India, Economic Times, Business Standard, Quartz, Global Legal Post, International Bar Association, LawAsia, BioSpectrum Asia, Digital News Asia, e27, Leaders Speak, Entrepreneur India, VCCircle, AutoTech)

Regularly invited to speak at international & national platforms (conferences, TV channels, seminars, corporate trainings, government workshops) on technology, patents, business strategy, legal developments, leadership & management

Working closely with patent attorneys along with international law firmswith significant experience with lawyers in Asia Pacific providing services to clients in US and Europe. Flagship services include international patent and trademark filings, patent services in India and global patent consulting services.

Law office of Rahul Dev is a niche technology and research based law firm focusing on next generation business and legal issues faced in India and outside India during international business and cross-border technology transactions. We assist our clients in close collaboration with our associates and counsels within India and outside by providing custom engagement models to address our client’s needs.

Practice areas include drafting and filing patent applications, patent prior art searches, patent prosecution, patent filing in India, PCT national phase entry in India, PCT international applications with WIPO, freedom to operate searches, patentability analysis and patent strategy to create a valuable patent portfolio.

Patent attorney Rahul Dev works with clients providing expert legal services in the field of innovative pharmaceutical products, branded drugs, generic drugs, molecular biology, immunology, cell biology, regenerative medicine including ESCs, iPSCs, pSCs, diagnostics, therapeutics, theranostics, drug delivery systems, host-vector systems, high throughput screening, bioinformatics, diagnostic imaging, ancillary services (PET, CT, MRI, ultrasound, greenlight, lithotripsy, radiation therapy, cyber-knife, nuclear camera, clinical lab, pathology, physical therapy and dispensing prescriptions).

Patent attorney and technology lawyer Rahul Dev works closely with USPTO licensed patent attorneys to assist clients with patent reexaminations, patent prosecution, drafting USPTO office action responses, patent infringement litigation, patent claim mapping and patent licensing. For international patent filings, we have an established network of global patent attorneys to provide reliable and cost effective services to our clients.

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