Provisional application

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. The specific issue is: UK introduced provisional patent applications in 1852. They are provided for in the 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, which the US didn't sign up to because NIH! You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Under United States patent law, a provisional application is a legal document filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), that establishes an early filing date, but does not mature into an issued patent unless the applicant files a regular non-provisional patent application within one year. There is no such thing as a "provisional patent".^[1]

A provisional application includes a specification, i.e. a description, and drawing(s) of an invention (drawings are required where necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented^[2]), but does not require formal patent claims, inventors' oaths or declarations, or any information disclosure statement (IDS). Furthermore, because no examination of the patentability of the application in view of the prior art is performed, the USPTO fee for filing a provisional patent application is significantly lower ($60 - $240 as of August 2023^[3]) than the fee required to file a standard non-provisional patent application. A provisional application can establish an early effective filing date in one or more continuing patent applications later claiming the priority date of an invention disclosed in the provisional application by one or more of the same inventors.

The same term is used in past and current patent laws of other countries with different meanings.