A PPA (provisional patent application) establishes an early filing date for a later filed nonprovisional application and also enables inventors to use the “Patent Pending” statement even though a PPA is not a real patent application. It is a U.S. national application that is not examined and has a pendency of 12 months. An RPA (regular, i.e. nonprovisional, patent application) claiming the benefit of a PPA must be filed not later than 12 months after the PPA filing, else the PPA becomes abandoned.
A PPA must contain: 1) filing fee (that is a fraction of RPA fees) and a cover sheet containing the names of all inventors, inventor residences, title of the invention, name and registration number of attorney or agent, and a correspondence address; and 2) the description of the invention, including drawings when helpful for defining the invention, and preferably at least one claim, even though the application is not examined on its merits.
A PPA cannot be amended; however you may file additional PPAs and claim the benefit of all applicable provisional applications. Correspondingly, multiple RPAs can claim the benefit of one PPA.
A well prepared PPA will also provide a proof of inventorship; this is important for inventors searching for investment as many investors avoid inventions for which a patent application has not been filed. PPA also enables inventors to describe, show and sell the subject of the invention without fear of losing inventorship rights in USA. USPTO will not publish PPAs, nor keep abandoned PPAs; so if you decide later to abandon the PPA and if you have not disclosed your invention, then your invention may still be protected by the trade secret laws.
A word of caution – only what is described in a PPA(s) will enable the subsequent RPA(s) to claim the benefit of the PPA! Therefore, even though the PPA is not examined by the USPTO, prepare the PPA as if it would be a RPA!
Another word of caution – if you abandon a PPA after you disclosed or sold the subject of your invention during the pendency of the PPA, you may have forever lost the rights to get a patent on your invention!
Last word of caution – as is the case with any legal matter, you should not rely on this succinct description of the essence of the laws and regulations involved in, or affected by, the filing of a PPA.