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A provisional patent application is not a patent, and furthermore, never becomes a patent, with the single rare exception noted below.

It does provide a priority date for concurrent later-filed non-provisional applications for the content that is in the provisional.

While patent attorneys often speak of "converting" a provisional into a non-provisional, this is not usually an accurate description of the case (with a single exception), since the provisional has no life beyond its twelve-month term and "converting" is usually done by filing a non-provisional application that claims benefit of the filing date of the provisional.

A provisional patent application requires a full written specification and all the drawing figures, but does not require claims.

Lastly, a provisional patent application never sees the light of day and remains confidential, unless a non-provisional patent application (or a Patent Cooperation Treaty application -- to preserve foreign filing rights -- or a design application) takes priority to it.

For more information on provisional patent applications, see .

Non-provisional

A non-provisional patent application, sometimes called a "regular" patent application or just a "patent application", is a "real" application for a patent. Claims are the invention.

For more information on non-provisional patent applications, see .

Many people think that a provisional patent application is less costly way to get a patent than a non-provisional patent application.

Again, because the provisional expires and a non-provisional must be filed to take priority to the provisional, this two-step process is more expensive.

There are at least two good reasons to file a provisional patent application:

Alternately, if they do not find someone, they plan to let the provisional patent application expire without filing a non-provisional patent application and incur no further expenses.

Provisional or Non-provisional Patent Application - Which Should You Choose?

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