Provisional patent application filing is a very simple procedure:
this is not a full formal patent application. If the client
supplies us with a disclosure document which contains enough
information, we can file a minimal provisional application for
(typically) less than $1000 all told, including the government
fee. The requirements for the disclosure document are:
1) It must "enable" other
technologists to "make and use the invention."
2) It must contain at least one
drawing (and preferably more). (In theory this is sometimes not
required, but we recommend that a disclosure should illustrate the
invention as well as possible.)
The disclosure document does not have to be written in any
particular format, and does not have to contain claims. The
government fee does not have to be paid at the time of
filing.
Note that filing a "minimal" provisional application is a limited
engagement for us. A full patent application write-up is
undoubtedly better, but our fees for preparing a full patent
application would typically run in the neighborhood of $10K - maybe
$5K for a very very simple mechanical invention, sometimes $20K or
more for a complicated software or electrical or business method
invention. However, our view is that it is far better to file a
minimal provisional application than none.
Filing a provisional application is not the end of the process. A
further filing must be made within one year of the first
provisional filing, since the provisional application itself will
expire. This deadline applies to US non provisional filings,
international (PCT) filings, and Taiwanese national filings. For
example: if a first provisional is filed on March 8, 2013, and an
expanded provisional is filed in June 2013, the absolute deadline
for further filings will be March 8, 2014.
