By Aditi Bhaskar, October 2022
***DISCLAIMER*** Keep in mind, I'm writing this as a high-schooler. I am in no way claiming a deep understanding of the intricate underlying legal works. However, I have been through the process, and know there's not nearly enough information on the internet for this! I hope that this page clarifies some basic facts that you can't find elsewhere!
This page outlines the basic steps in protecting your intellectual property by filing a provisional patent through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
This page is intended for use as a loose guide to the process of the provisional patent, and should be supplemented with your own rigorous research. Feel free to contact me with any questions!
A provisional patent is a claim on your intellectual property. There's a law somewhere that says you must file for a real patent (“non-provisional patent”) within a year of the first public disclosure (eg. your school science fair) of your work.
Another law states you can file for a “provisional patent” in the meanwhile - in other words, I'd call a “provisional patent” a “casual patent.” A provisional gets filed with the USPTO and no one really reads it initially, but it tells the USPTO you'e got an idea, and confirms later on that you were the first with the idea.
You must file a provisional within a year of your first public viewing/disclosure of your invention. A provisional gives you one year from the provisional patent's filing date to get your “non-provisional patent” in!
*As far as I've seen: No one reads your provisional until you file your actual patent. The provisional is also thrown out after a year from its filing, and is not made public like the non-provisional patents.
If you're still deciding whether or not a provisional is a good idea, you should go for it!
The filing fee is $70USD if you're filing a micro entity patent, which is the case for most single-inventors filing a small-ish (not multi-million-dollar) invention. Don't spend on an attorney for this part of the process. Just write the facts down! It doesn't need to be formal, just needs to confirm that you know what you're talking about!
While writing your own provisional is time consuming, it's worth it in the end because (again) no one reads for perfection in a provisional. Just make sure ALL the facts get on that provisional so it backs up anything you may want to say in your actual patent. Full disclosure. Plus, it's a good deep-dive into your own invention: you might learn new things in the process.
1) Come up with your invention, your implemented idea, whatever it may be. It must include at least one completely new component, or a clever way of putting together 2 or more existing things. The USPTO uses qualification terms of “novel,” meaning new, and “non-obvious,” meaning people don't generally think of and do something similar. Plus, the invention must be “useful,” meaning it must serve some practical use. Below is some additional reading on this:
“What Novel and Non-Obvious Really Means in Practice”2) Fill out the template linked below, or something similar. Answer all questions in great detail. Remember, more is better, because when you file your non-provisional patent, they check this to make sure you actually knew what you were talking about, like, X-many months ago! You can also practice legal-esque language here. In other words, keep your description vague: use “fastener” instead of “bolt,” etc.
Disclaimer! I do not claim ownership of either of the following skeleton-outline documents, and I do not recall exactly where they came from. If they're yours, please send me an email and I'll give you credit! These outlines are great at guiding thoughts as you describe your invention in detail.
“transmittal (cover letter)”3) File your documents online! You can file as an “unregistered e-filer” on the USPTO website. Remember to write down all the numbers they give you after you file, and save those numbers somewhere easy to re-access You need your provisional patent's details to claim your real-deal patent later on! The following link contains excellent instructions on how to file.
“Filing Provisional Patent at USPTO”Don't wait until the last minute on your non-provisional patent; find an intellectual property (“patent” or “IP”) lawyer/attorney soon after filing your provisional to work on the non-provisional, ideally one who has science/engineering experience in the field of your invention.
I suggest finding a patent attorney for your non-provisional patent because it needs to be legal and written with specific language.
Costs: A non-provisional micro-entity utility patent is about $455 to file, plus the cost of your patent attorney. There are many more costs associated with renewing your patent over the next 20 years, and they would add up to nearing $20,000 (based on one estimate I heard) but may vary based on the type of patent, number of claims you make in your patent, etc.
Timeline: Once you file your non-provisional, it takes about to 2 months for the USPTO to give you an official "date" of filing. After that, it takes 2-5 years (according to a few rough estimates I heard) to get your patent completely processed. The timeline depends on your field (robotics, medical, etc.). This delay is due to all the office actions and possible changes that must be made. Once your patent has been approved (or "filed", according to a few sources), within 18 months, it will appear publicly under the US patent search database.
Send me an email if you read this page, or found it helpful: I'd like to know I helped someone!!