What is the difference between a provisional patent, a utility patent and a design patent?
A provisional patent is really not a patent, but a patent application. A provisional patent application in the United States is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The filing of the application confers on its filer a filing date that can be used as a priority date on a subsequently filed patent application. In other words, the subsequently filed patent application will be considered to have been filed on the date the provisional patent was filed. The subsequently filed patent application must be filed within one year of the filing date of the Provisional Patent application or the provisional patent application is destroyed. While there is no specific format for a provisional patent application, to be effective it must contain all the aspects of the invention as required for the subsequently filed patent application, such as an embodiment and best mode. If a priority claim is made to a provisional patent application in a subsequently filed patent applicatio
