A provisional patent application serves as an official record of your invention.  That is, filing a provisional patent application establishes your date of invention before the U.S. Patent Office.  An official date of invention is important because if your invention is truly valuable, it is not uncommon for others to claim the invention as their own.  In fact, it's not uncommon for several people to come up with the same invention at the same time.  However, with a provisional patent application, not only do you officially establish that the invention is yours, but you can now use the phrase "patent pending".

A provisional patent application also provides you with the time to assess the true value of your invention.  For example, once your invention is protected with a provisional patent application, you can feel comfortable discussing your invention with others (e.g., potential investors).  Because your invention is protected, you may even begin marketing and selling the invention.  Importantly, because a provisional patent application is good for 12 months, you will have a full year in which to assess the true value of the invention.  During this time, you may want to truly assess the market for your invention and determine what type of investment it deserves.  In addition, we can provide you with a patentability search to make sure your invention is truly patentable.  At the end of the 12 months you can decide whether the market opportunity warrents further investment in developing, marketing and selling your invention.  test link