A provisional patent application is an interim utility patent filed with a paten t office.

It is filed without including any claims, oath or declaration, or any disclosure statement. It gives you protection on your invention for one year onl y and after that you must file for a non-provisional or regular patent applicati on or abandon your patent. It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be used, which acts as a deterrent to likely infringers. Provisional patent application also acts as a low-cost alternative or a prelimin ary step before filing a non-provisional patent. It gives one additional year of protection or grace which is normally enough time for an inventor to evaluate t he market potential of his invention and to get investors on board. A provisional application has numerous advantages over regular or non-provisiona l patent application. The foremost being the priority date. An earlier priority on a patent application could be a game changer for a breakthrough invention. Mo reover, since the cost involved in drafting and filing such a patent application is generally 1/4th of a regular application, therefore it serves as a cost effe ctive, legitimate and credible source of getting your invention registered with a patent office. Another advantage of filing a provisional application is the tenure of protectio n that your invention enjoys. It gives your invention a total tenure of 21 years which otherwise would be 20 years if you first file a regular or non-provisiona l patent application. Further, the paperwork involved in filing such an application is minimal and eas y. You don t need any legal knowledge or skills to file a provisional application. T hough it is recommended to involve a firm or patent agent/attorney, but in case you don t wish to, a provisional application can easily be filed online directly wit h the patent office. One precaution that has to been taken with a provisional application is the cuto ff date. The provisional application automatically expires at 12 months and one has to file a regular or non-provisional application before that. In case you mi ss the deadline and don t act within 12 months you not only loose the priority date but even lose the right to patent that invention. To conclude, it is very convenient, easy, and inexpensive to file a provisional patent application and the associated benefits are immense. Therefore, it is rec ommended to go for a provisional filing as soon as possible. About the author - Effectual Services is a Patent Research Outsourcing company t hat helps its clients draft and file both provisional and non-provisional patent applications. We also provide other Intellectual Property Services such as, pat entability search, prior art search, freedom-to-operate search, invalidity searc h. Further, we help our clients commercialize their existing patents by helping them find likely infringers and prove infringement. For details on our services and price quotes write to us at info@effectualservices.com or visit us at www.ef fectualservices.com