Is a provisional patent a real patent?

No. A provisional application is never examined and never becomes a patent on its own. It is a placeholder that records your invention, secures your filing date, and lets you use patent pending for twelve months. To get an actual patent, you must file a full utility application within that year.

How much does a provisional patent cost?

The USPTO filing fee is small, around $130 for a small entity or $65 for a micro entity. If you draft it yourself, that is most of the cost. Having an attorney prepare it properly, which protects you better, typically runs $1,500 to $3,500, still far less than the $8,000 to $15,000 for a full utility patent.

What happens after 12 months?

The provisional expires, with no extensions. To keep the benefit of your early filing date, you must file a full utility or PCT application claiming the provisional within those twelve months. If you miss the deadline, you lose the priority date, and if your invention became public in the meantime, possibly the ability to patent it at all.

Provisional Patents: What They Are, Cost, and How to File

A provisional patent application is a lower-cost filing that secures your filing date and lets you use patent pending for twelve months, buying time before you commit to a full patent. It is never examined and never becomes a patent on its own.

A provisional patent application is the cheap, fast way to plant your flag. You file it with the USPTO, it locks in your filing date, and it lets you stamp patent pending on your invention for twelve months, all for a fraction of what a full patent costs. Then the clock starts.

It is the single most useful tool I point inventors to, and also the most misunderstood. Let me be precise about what it is and is not.

Key takeaway: a provisional is a placeholder, not a patent. It secures your date and your patent-pending status for twelve months, then expires unless you file a full application. It is never examined and never becomes a patent by itself.

What a provisional patent actually is

A simplified filing that records your invention with the USPTO and establishes a priority date. It needs no formal claims and no oath, and carries far less formality than a full application. It sits in the USPTO unexamined, holding your place in line.

What it does for you

Three real things. It locks your filing date, which in the US first-to-file system can decide everything. It gives you a legitimate twelve months of patent pending. And it buys time, to build, to raise money, to test the market, and to gauge whether the full patent is worth the spend, all while your priority is held.

What it does not do

It does not get examined, it does not grant, and it will never become a patent on its own. It also only protects what you actually described, so a thin two-paragraph provisional gives you priority for those two paragraphs and nothing more. The advice to just file something cheap is half right, a vague provisional protects vaguely.

What it costs

The USPTO filing fee is small, around $130 for a small entity or $65 for a micro entity. Do it yourself and that is most of the cost. Have an attorney draft it properly, which matters more than people expect, and figure $1,500 to $3,500, still a fraction of the $8,000 to $15,000 for the full utility patent.

How to file one, and the 12-month clock

File through the USPTO's patent center with a written description, drawings, and the fee. Describe the invention as completely as you can, because you cannot add new matter later and still claim the early date for it. Then the rule that catches people: within twelve months you must file the full utility application claiming the provisional's date, or you lose that date entirely. There are no extensions. If you want the drafting done right, compare patent attorneys, scored.