'Patent Pending Status' for 12 months. Includes Consultation with a Patent Attorney. Fixed Fees.
How you can have a temporary protection of your invention in Singapore and overseas
Imagine these scenarios:
(1) Your company is about to launch a product in the market in the next few days through a press release and you realised that you have not filed a patent application for your invention yet.
(2) You are about to disclose your invention to a potential investor who had made it clear that he did not want to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) beforehand.
You are also aware that if you do not preserve the novelty of the invention, i.e. the invention must not be disclosed to the public anywhere in the world, whether by publication or use, you may not be able to get a patent for your invention. What do you do?
What is a provisional patent application?
In the above situations, a provisional patent application can be used to overcome imminent public disclosure. It is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to declare the invention as your own. When you file a provisional patent application with a Patent Office, you declare the rights to your invention as well as a filing date.
Why is a filing date important?
A filing date is important in patent law because it establishes who created the invention first and therefore the rights to the invention. If someone else filed a patent application for the same invention at a later filing date anywhere in the world, your provisional patent application pre-dates that patent application and it will lose novelty because of your provisional patent application. Having a provisional patent application allows you to legally use the term “patent pending” while you are awaiting grant of the patent.
How is a provisional patent application different from a complete patent application?
A provisional patent application is different from a complete patent application (or non-provisional application) as it does not contain claims (numbered paragraphs at the end of a patent specification) that defines the scope of the invention. Drafting a proper set of claims require significantly more investment as it requires an experienced patent attorney to draft them.
A provisional patent application provides only temporary protection because it only lasts 12 months from the filing date. To keep your protection after the 12 months, you will need to convert the provisional patent application into a complete patent specification. In other words, the provisional patent application provides a way to put one foot in through the door by obtaining a filing date.
A provisional patent application requires less time to prepare because as mentioned, it does not require claims. However, one must still disclose all of the details of the invention in order to provide support for the complete patent application that will be filed later.
A provisional patent application is also not examined by the Patent Office. This means that the Patent Office does not check to see if your invention is actually patentable and meet the patentability criteria of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability.
The provisional patent application simply serves as a quick and effective way to legally file your idea and obtain a filing date temporarily.
When you file a complete patent application within the 12 months, the complete patent application will inherit the filing date of your provisional patent application, as if the complete patent application was filed on the date you filed the provisional application.
An example of how you can use a Provisional Patent Application
Let’s say you file a provisional patent application on 2 January 2022. This provisional patent application expires on 2 January 2023.
Let’s say you started selling your invention on Kickstarter and a competitor took your idea and filed their own patent application on 3 February 2022. We will term this ‘Competitor Filing Date’.
You can see that your filing date of 2 Jan 2022 is earlier than your competitor’s filing date and you are ahead. The Patent Office will see that you are first to file a patent application because your filing date is before your competitor’s filing date. To keep this filing date, you will need to convert the provisional patent application into a complete patent application before 2 Jan 2023.
Let’s say the Complete Patent Application was filed on 15 Dec 2022. The Complete Patent Application will inherit the filing date 2 Jan 2022 of the provisional patent application. The Patent Office will see that you filed a Complete Patent Application on 15 Dec 2022 that is linked to the provisional patent application filed on 2 Jan 2022 and allow you to use the earlier filing date.
If you do not convert the provisional patent application before the expiration of 2 Jan 2023, the provisional patent application will expire and you will lose the 2 Jan 2022 filing date. You will still be able to file a complete patent application after 2 Jan 2023 but you will lose the earlier filing date of 2 Jan 2018. The complete patent application filed after 2 Jan 2023 will have a filing date filed later than 2 Jan 2023.
Our Provisional Patent Application Process
