Provisional patent applications provide inexpensive way to begin patent protection

A provisional patent application is a quick and inexpensive way to begin patent protection for your invention.  If you have an invention and want to get patent protection underway quickly and fairly inexpensively (e.g. under $1K of investment), a provisional patent application can be filed that contains content produced by you, the inventor, that describes the invention in detail.  So long as the content is enabling, which means that it teaches someone of ordinary skill in the art how to make and use the invention without undue experimentation, this content can be filed as a provisional patent application.  Since the content is written by the inventor, this keeps the legal fee to a minimum.  The government filing fee is only $125.

The content should include figures that show the invention.  The text portion of the write-up should describe what is shown in the figures and explain how the invention operates, what it does, how it does it, why it is advantageous, etc.  To find examples of what the write-up should look like, anyone can go to

Barry Chapin, of Chapin IP Law in Southborough, MA often handles review and filing of provisional patent application content for less than $1K in legal fees.  For this fee, a patent attorney receives, reads and reviews the application content written by the inventor to ensure it appears to enable the invention, works with the inventor to provide any revisions, and drafts a small group of claims to add to the material and then prepares associated paperwork and files the application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Once filed, the inventors can mark the invention as "Patent Pending".

Provisional patent applications only pend (i.e. last) for 1 year.  In order to maintain patent pending status on the invention and continue the patent process, a Utility patent application must be drafted and filed on the same invention described in the provisional before the 1 year expiration of the provisional.  This Utility filing claims the benefit of the filing date of the provisional so long as it is filed before the one year expiration of the filing date of the provisional and so long as it contains one or more claims that are enabled (i..e technically supported by the description) by the content of the provisional.  The biggest difference between a Utility patent application and a Provisional patent application is that the Utility is a much more formal document that has a specific format, sections, a full set of claims and formal drawings for describing the invention and is typically drafted by an experienced patent attorney.  By contrast, a patent attorney may spend 2-4 hours working with a client to review and file the provisional content, whereas he or she may spend 20-40 hours to prepare a high quality Utility patent application on the same invention.. 

For further information on the use of provisional patent applications to begin the patent process in a cost effective manner, contact Barry Chapin of Chapin IP Law at 508-616-9660.  Chapin IP Law is a mid-sized patent law firm of experienced patent attorneys (we have no entry levels or junior attorneys).  Our lower overhead suburban Boston location enables us to provide high quality work at costs that are substantially below those of large city firms.  Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups and independent inventors.