What it Took (Part 4: The Provisional Patent) – My Journey Launching a New Business and Becoming a New Father
First thing to do: Get Patent Pending!
Welcome to my series “What it Took – My Journey Starting a New Business and Becoming a New Father.”
We’ll look back over the last 2 roller-coaster years and use my experiences with bringing the SurfShelf to market as a case study of the do’s and don’ts of starting a new business.
What does it really take to bring a new product to market? We’ll go step-by-step…
Last time we talked about doing a patent search to see if there was any prior art that would prevent you from making and selling your invention. This week we’ll talk about filing a Provisional Application for Patent, what it is and why you want to do it.
So here’s why you want to file a Provisional Patent Application ASAP
1. To receive an early effective filing date for your invention
2. It’s easy and inexpensive
3. It gives you 12 months to work on your invention before the formal patent application must be filed
4. You can use the term “Patent Pending” with you with your invention
Let’s discuss these benefits in more detail…
The provisional application for patent is an application that you file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that does not require claims or any of the paperwork that a formal patent application does. In fact, all it really requires is for you to fill out a 2-page informational form (to be used as a cover page), sign it, and attach it to a detailed description of your invention accompanied by drawings as necessary.
When you file your Provisional Application for Patent you will receive a filing date with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This date effectively puts an official time stamp stating when you filed your patent. Note that the provisional patent application WILL NOT be reviewed by the USPTO for patentability. Also it is good for only 12 months and will expire if you do not pursue a formal patent within the 12 months after filing. But, when (and if) you do file a formal non-provisional patent, the formal patent application will be able to claim the date from the provisional application. So basically it puts stake in the ground with the USPTO that you will be able to take advantage of later if you choose.
Now, it’s important to be as detailed as you possibly can in your invention description that is included in the provisional application. The reason for this is that the formal patent application can only take advantage of the early provisional filing date if and only if the formal application is supported by the description detailed in the provisional application. In simple terms, if it’s not described in the provisional application, you can’t claim the provisional date in the formal application.
For this reason, I suggest that you brainstorm and include all of the possible different elements, features and ways your invention could possibly work that you MAY end up developing. I capitalize MAY because you are not held to anything here. Throw in the kitchen sink and when it comes time to file your formal application (after you fine tune it), hopefully you have some verbiage in the provisional application that will support the final invention you intend to develop.
And it’s inexpensive! I think the latest fee schedule shows it to be $110 for small entities for applications of 100 pages or less.
Formal non-provisional patent applications can cost tens of thousands of dollars depending on how you go about developing them (by yourself or with the help of a patent attorney) so you definitely don’t want to go down that path until you are 100% sure that your invention is commercially viable (that will be a topic of another post, don’t worry).
Because the provisional patent is cheap and easy, it allows you to defer the high cost and hard work of a formal patent application until you are completely ready. And maybe by then you have been successful raising some capital from investors to help you with the expenses (another post on how to do that is coming soon).
Lastly, by filing a provisional patent application, you are officially entitled to use the term “Patent Pending” with your invention. Once you can do this, make sure to put these words on all of your marketing materials, investor relations materials, etc. These words always seem to get people’s attention, and if that person happens to be a potential investor then it might give you an edge you need.
Here are a couple of links to the USPTO website that will be helpful with filing the provisional application:
USPTO Information re: Provisional Application for Patent. This webpage gives you all the information you will need to file with provisional including addresses, HELP phone numbers, etc.
USPTO Form for Provisional Application for Patent. This is the form you fill out and sign to use as a cover page for your invention description.
So now that you have done your patent search and determined that there are no patents out there in your way, and you’ve filed you own provisional patent application so that you are officially “Patent Pending”, it’s time to do some research to see what your market potential is.
This will be the topic of our next post – Initial Market Research
See you soon,
Randy
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