Provisional Patent Applications (PPA)
About Our Provisional Patent Application
(PPA) Practice
There are some good
reasons to file a provisional application, however, it
is not
always a good idea. Please review our FAQ
on our Provisional Patent Application services and
our overview
on provisional applications before
proceeding.
It is imperative to understand that although any inventor can
file their
own provisional application (pro se), if the provisional does
not satisfy the multitude
of “best practice” and legal requirements, you can easily lose
some or all
of your patent protection rights. Understandably, many small
business and
independent inventors have an economic incentive to file a
provisional application
to attain presumed “Patent-Pending” legal protection while
determining the invention’s
market value before investing in the high cost of a
non-provisional patent application.
A “Do-it-yourself” minded,
Independent inventors, especially, should not be fooled to
believe that anyone
but a licensed professional should help you prepare and file
your provisional application.
If your provisional application is insufficient, you not only
lose any patent protection
you thought you had, but even worse you will be barred from ever
patenting your
invention if it was ever publicly used or disclosed– a high risk
to take just to
avoid some small upfront expenses as detailed below.
Bay Area IP recognizes that individual and small business
inventors sometimes need
a very affordable provisional “Patent-Pending” protection
mechanism that they can
use for market testing their invention before investing in a
non-provisional patent,
and at other times need a high quality provisional
application to protect a potentially seminal invention. That is
why we offer
two categories of service- the first is our quality oriented
provisional application service, which serves clients
who wish to have a
relatively good quality follow-on
non-provisional application. The second category of service
provides a vehicle
for the low-budget independent inventors who are more concerned about attaining a
“Patent-Pending”
status at little cost so they can test market their invention to
determine its value
before investing significant funds. We refer to this category
of provisional
application as our Cost-focused Provisional Patent-Pending service.
Quality Oriented Provisional Application
Service
The best way to get started is to our get
started page, contact us,
or directly request
a quote online. Below is a more detailed explanation of our Quality
Oriented Provisional Patent Application Services.
In this collection of quality-oriented
options, we prepare the provisional for you with a level of
completeness tailored
to your budget and needs. Once you decide to go forward with a
Provisional
Application, we will work closely with you to tailor an approach
customized to your
individual needs. Unlike most IP firms, Bay Area IP is very
flexible in
working with you to achieve your optimal balance between upfront
investment risk
verses potential future protection. Although we analyze every
client’s situation
individually, most who seek a quality follow-on
non-provisional application will fall into one of the following
general cost reduction
options:
1. Top Quality-
You provide a standard disclosure, we prepare the
provisional as
if it were a non-provisional, except for prior-art search and
formal drawings.
Result: Likely a better
quality non-provisional application, and you defer about
40% of
normal costs to the non-provisional application.
2. Good Quality-
You provide a detailed disclosure according to our instruction,
we prepare a provisional implementing best drafting practices
and implement basic
legal safeguards, nonessential sections are not included.
Result: Likely an average quality non-provisional
application, and you defer about 50% in normal costs to the
non-provisional
application.
3. Basic Quality "Drafting
Basic Plus"- This level of services is the same as the "Drafting Basic" plus it
further
includes a broad claim and greater patent scope/strength provisions,
which
better support the future Utility Patent strength and are required to
preserves
your International patent rights because many countries do not respect a
Provisional Patent Application filing without at least a broad claim.
Result: Likely an OK
quality non-provisional patent application, and
you defer up to 80% in
normal costs to the non-provisional application.
For inventors who want a legal
professional
to legally draft their Provisional
Patent Application at a relatively
low cost, and are not too concerned about patent scope or preserving
there
International patent rights, yet want their Provisional
Patent Application to at least cover their core product/service idea
and include
basic legal “
best
practices.”
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