Bay Area IP

Service

Confirmation : PPA Drafting Getting Started

Greetings, 

Thank you for procuring our provisional patent preparation legal services, and doing business with Bay Area Intellectual Property Group.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Bay Area Intellectual Property Group (Bay Area IP).  

To docket your new case, we require you promptly FAX or email us the properly executed service agreement- to download it, please click on (or option click and choose "save as") one of the following links that matches the number of inventors/owners in the patent: 

The four versions of the Service Agreement (TOS) linked above are identical except for the number of parties (i.e., inventors or assignees) named.  If you need more parties to be named, please let me know.  At least a FAXed or eMailed softcopy is needed before work may begin.


NOTE: To avoid (significant) delays and/or ERRORS, ALL invention Disclosure (ID) SUBMISSIONS MUST be emailed to secure@bayareaip.com, with a subject line like "PPA ID Submission, Drafting Basic/Plus".  
 

 
NOTICE: To avoid problems, confusion, and delays, please always put your case number, which we will assign your case after your submission, in the subject line of all emails you subsequently send to us.  Similarly, if there is more than one person on your project, please assign only one point of contact (POC) to us.  We can only deal effectively and efficiently with one POC.  Once you decide who the POC will be, please advise us so that we will update our system to recognize that person and email address.
 
You can download the required invention description form (IDF) for Provisional Patent work at this link:
http://www.bayareaip.com/forms/IDF_for_PPA_Simple.doc
 
Please answer all the questions in that IDF that you believe apply to your situation and email it back to me ASAP.  You may separately FAX (see # below) or email your drawings.  To start our work we require your authorization to base an application upon a prior submission (e.g., an IDF used for a patent search or quote) or for you to submit an improved detailed invention description (e.g., via the above IDF optimized specifically for patent work).  If upon review you find your initial submission was sufficient then please let us know.  However, in any case, at minimum, we need your answer to questions 8 (claims priorities) and 12 (simplest version) in the above linked IDF, even if you will not use the IDF to submit your disclosure to us.
 
PLEASE NOTE: For this "low cost" service, all questions must be submitted by email, and not by phone call.  Once you send me your final submission, or instructions to work off your original submission, generally NO updates or addendums thereafter are possible because I most often will instantly proceed to working on your patent.  So, before you send in your final submission you should be double sure that it is final and ready to be worked upon, otherwise there may be an extra charge to include later submitted invention material/information if I have to spend additional time to rework/include it.
 
To start our work we require the above Invention Description Form (IDF) to be completed in full detail, returned by reply to this email, and your signed service agreement (see below link to download) to be emailed or FAXed in.  Your drawings/sketches may be emailed or FAXed in as well.
 
To download the our non-disclosure/service agreement to to start work, please click on (or option click and choose "save as") the following link:  http://www.bayareaip.com/forms/TOS_1_inventor.doc  (if there is more than one inventor let me know and I'll send you the proper form)

WE GET VERY HIGH VOLUMES OF SUBMISSIONS. so PLEASE: All email submissions MUST be emailed in reply to this "Welcome" email and emailed to these same address: secure@bayareaip.com.  Otherwise, your email may not be timely or properly processed.  I need your final submission to be in MS WORD document format for the text part, while the drawings/sketches can be in PDF or any standard image format.  If you send me anything by any other means (e.g., mail, FAX, etc.) then I need you to email me at secure@bayareaip.com and alert me as to what you sent, when you sent it, and how you sent it.  Otherwise, your submission may not be timely or properly processed. 
 
 
WRITING YOUR INVENTION DISCLOSURE
 
You can download the required invention disclosure form (IDF) for Utility Patent work at this link:
http://www.bayareaip.com/forms/IDF_for_PPA_Simple.doc
 
Please answer all the questions in that IDF that you believe apply to your situation and email it back to me ASAP.  You may separately FAX (see # below) or email your drawings.  To start my work I require your authorization to base an application upon a prior submission (e.g., an IDF used for a patent search or quote) or for you to submit an improved detailed invention description (e.g., via the above IDF optimized specifically for patent work).  If upon review you find any prior submission was sufficient then please let us know; however, in any case, at minimum, we need your answer to questions 7 (claims priorities) and 8 (simplest version) in the above linked IDF.
 
Please note that better quality is worth a little extra time. Under the current legal climate, if an example is not shown and described the scope of you patent could be narrowed to only the examples we show and not all the equivalents. That is at least one reason why it is important to have a wide range of very different examples.

Think of it as telling a story so that the reader will understand what the problem is, how your solution solves those problems, how they can build and use your invention just from reading your disclosure, and all the other variations that you consider as still being within the scope of your invention.

After you have written your invention disclosure according to the above guidance, submit it to us in MS Windows text editable format according to several alternative methods below, depending on your preference below.
 
PLEASE NOTE: Once you send me your final submission, or instructions to work off your original submission, generally NO updates or addendums thereafter are possible because I most often will instantly proceed to working on your patent.  So, before you send in your final submission you should be double sure that it is final and ready to be worked upon, otherwise there may be an extra charge to include later submitted invention material/information if I have to spend additional time to rework/include it.
 


 
THE PREPERATION AND FILING PROCESS
 
  • In general, you must provide us with a very detailed disclosure of your invention for us to base our draft PPA on. This can be accomplished in two ways:
    1. If time is a constraint, and quality is less important, then simply fill out our Invention Disclosure Form (IDF) in complete detail; or
    2. If quality is a priority, then prepair your invention submission according to the detailed instructions in a guide, which we provide upon request.
  • We will take your detailed invention disclosure, whether by way of an Invention Disclosure Form or your draft PPA, and prepare a Provisional Patent Application that not only satisfies the minimum legal requirements, but supports any included broad claim and basic legal safeguards that provide significantly better quality support for a later filed utility patent application, which translates to stronger patent protection from any resulting patent issued and is required by many countries to preserve your foreign patent rights.
  • Within about 2-3 weeks after receiving your detailed Invention Disclosure and payment we will deliver to you by secure email a Provisional Patent Application suitable for filing with the US Patent Office.
  • You then make any changes necessary to make the draft PPA technically accurate.
  • You may file it yourself, or remit the PPA filing fees (ours and the USPTO's), and deliver the final version for us to file with the Patent Office on your behalf.
Again, thank you for choosing Bay Area IP, and we look forward to providing you top quality service and support,
 
Ariel Bentolila
Principal member, Bay Area IP, LLC

P.O. Box 210459
San Francisco CA, 94121-0459
Main Phone: 1-888-88-BayAreaIP (888-882-2927) x101
Office Phone: (415) 515-3005
Facsimile:  (775) 402-1238
Web:        www.BayAreaIP.com
 
P.S. -

General Background Information Regarding an Inventor's Notebook:
 
Completely and correctly documenting your inventive efforts is crucial in preserving you patent rights to your invention.  You should maintain a bounded inventor’s notebook, which clearly shows someone how to make and use your invention and documents each step of the invention conception and development process performed right up to filing an application (e.g., any new tests, new test equipment, new test results, what and why changes were made, etc.), and sets forth the contributions made by yourself and any other people that had a part in conceiving of or developing the invention.  Each page should be written in permanent ink and signed by two other witnesses that have read and understood what they are atnew testing to, or, alternatively a Notary Public.  The notebook is evidence of conception, and can help avoid problems that typically arise with those who build prototypes for you, do consulting, or were “just trying to help” you with your idea by documenting contributions by others.  Unless otherwise proven to the satisfaction of the USPTO, the date of invention is assumed to be the filing date of the provisional or utility patent application.

 

 

PREPARING YOUR DRAWINGS
  1. In general, we give our clients 3 options with regard to drawings: 1. To hire us to formalize them (we can quote you for this work), 2. Follow our instructions (e.g., the ones below) to make them acceptable the USPTO, or 3.  File our mark-up copies of the drawings you provided us.  The default selection is option 3 when you sign the oath authorizing those to be filed as the lanew test version outstanding in the case at the time of signing.  Please be aware that if the USPTO complains about the drawings after filing time they give you 2 months to correct any problems with no charge or penalty.  This is why many clients go with option 3 to see if the USPTO accepts the draft marked up version, and save money if corrections are not needed, and *PROPERLY/TIMELY* correct them if they are needed.
  2. Be sure that all extraneous markings and descriptive text outside of the figure image (e.g., item inventory/descriptions, outer page boxes, "views" info, titles, draftsman info, ect., need to be removed.  All that should remain in any drawing sheet is the figure image(s) centered, , component item lead lines with numberings, sheet numbers at the top, and figure numbers under each figure. 
  3. DRAWINGS: Regarding the drawings, as you know, they are not part of our flat-fee quote.  Either the client decides to do them or have our draftsman do it.  If the client wishes to do them him/herself according to my written instructions in this letter, then there is no charge.  I generally try to be helpful for a small amount of guidance and quick feedback, but for anything that takes me more than that, I usually bill my hourly time.  This is the common practice at patent firms.  Actually, we go the extra mile of giving our clients detailed instructions on how to do their own drawings.  When the client does there own drawings, it is not my responsibility or sometimes in my capability (our draftsman knows all the rules) to catch every problem that deviates from my written instructions.  Indeed, if the USPTO does not accept client-done drawings, the client is responsible to either have our draftsman, or otherwise, put them in proper form and resubmit to the USPTO.  If our draftsman creates formal drawings, then we guarantee they will be accepted by the USPTO, and do for free any future work needed to have the USPTO accept them.
  4. DRAWINGS: Drawings should completely and clearly convey everything you would like to claim about your invention.  Any element not clearly shown, and mainly described in the text, runs the risk of losing patent coverage of those elements. "A picture says a 1000 words!"  For structures, each element in the drawing should have a different texture (e.g., a widely spaced lined texture like hatch, cross-hatch, etc., and not shades/colors) to make it clearly identifiable.  You may want to have our draftsman quote you on implementing these USPTO requirements.
  5. DRAWINGS: You must show examples of your invention in at least a few main applications, which provide a sufficient diversity of implementations to impart a complete understanding and enablement of the scope you intend you invention to cover (i.e.,  protection).  You can initially submit clean hand sketches that show in detail each component of your invention in each application, and use labels and lead lines to point out the parts shown so that it is clear what your description is referring to.
  6. All drawings should have at least a 1 inch margin on all sides, and have no gray colors, just black and white.  No colors are normally allowed. See details in the below postscript.
  7. DRAWINGS: Each drawing must be centered on its own 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper according to the section titled "Drawings."  Each page of drawings should have at least a 1 inch of blank space from the edge (i.e., 1" margins) on all sides and be labeled 1 inch from the top, and centered, with the sheet number; e.g., Sheet 1/x, 2/x, (or 1 of x, 2 of x, ...) etc, where "x" is the total number of drawing sheets.  (See this Figure 2 image on our website for an example of a sheet 2 of 10: www.bayareaip.com/forms/Fig2_protocol_stack_sample.gif.) All elements in all drawings should be numbered (e.g., elements in Fig. 1 should be numbered in the 100's range, Fig. 2 200's range, etc).  Do not ever reuse the same number for different drawing elements.  Your invention description should reference and describe, by number, these labeled elements for each figure.  You should number the same element with the same number in each drawing that same element is shown.
  8. DRAWINGS: It is important to understand that the more clear, undisputable, examples and applications you show the broader the scope of your patent will likely have when enforced.  Drawings of actual use are the best way to convey novel aspects of mechanical inventions.  As indicated in the eBook, it is the diversity of very different examples that really broadens the scope of your patent.  However, you should definitely not make figures mainly showing aspects of your invention that are not novel.  Having said that, you may want to show how the novel aspects of your invention can do known things, ideally, in a better way, if those applications are very commercially viable.  For software and business method inventions be sure to include figures (even if clear hand sketches) showing:
        a. The context of your invention relative to how it interacts with other known systems/modules to establish the nature of its application.
        b. Any software/system architecture showing how software modules of your invention interact with each other and/or other prior-art modules.  It should also show the information passed between the modules, thereby conveying (at an abstract block diagram level) how a software programmer might implement your invention
        c. A step-by-step flowchart (i.e., state machine) of the novel process/method/steps, if any, of your invention. All text inside step boxes of a flowchart must be completely within the box or diamond.  You should cut out as much of the step description for the box as possible so that it fits neatly within the box while still conveying the gist of the step.

    For software/process/method/steps Figure examples, see these images on our website:
    www.bayareaip.com/forms/Fig2_protocol_stack_sample.gif
    www.bayareaip.com/forms/sample_flow_chart_and_architecture.pdf

    Of course, the drawings we submit to the USPTO will only have sheet numbers at the top ( e.g., Sheet 1 of x, 2 of x, (or 1/x, 2/x, ...) etc, where "x" is the total number of drawing sheets.) and not the USPTO publication information that they added in this example sheet.

    Basically, the flow charts show the method steps, and the block diagrams must show system architectural modules (e.g., software functions or code modules) and communication paths between those modules that carry out the methods shown in the flow charts.  Note that patent flowcharts are top level, and should avoid showing known details, but mainly show the novel aspects/steps (usually a small number) for which patent protection will be sought for in the claims, and enough context (possibly of known steps) to make sense of what the system is doing.  In the text description, make sure you "glue" with words all the steps together sequentially and describe each step with as much context as helpful for broader understanding within a step's descriptions.

    If what you are claiming will be the steps in a process that makes a physical product and the physical machines/devices/configurations/arrangements needed to carry out each of those steps are not novel, and are well known to those in its technical field, then a good description of the physical setup/machine(s) will do, maybe with a drawing of the generic setup if helpful.  Otherwise (e.g., you have novelty in the physical setup and/or it is not 100% well known/clear, you need to show the physical setup and/or intermediate state of your product for each step in your novel process that are not 100% well known or clear.  You should also have drawings that show as wide a variety of examples of your process or product that broadens the range of possible uses, modes, or applications of your process.

    For methods, generally, what you need to do is to work out at least one example system/process that carries out what you want protection for and clearly shows how to do the whole process from beginning to end.  I suggest you hand draw a flowchart starting with "beginning" and branching off to various steps of your method (like a tree of optional paths) and finishing with "end".  Then in plain English describe the all steps (i.e. paths) in your flowchart, indicating which are optional, and speculating on all the additional variations you can think of to your main version.   Also, be sure to describe what is the most simple version too.

    NOTE: The more the method and process figures look like a standard flow charts and architecture/system figures look like system block diagrams the better.  It is best not to mix flow charts and block diagrams as the must be described and claimed separately.  Also, if your modules rely on other modules, hardware, or software that is well known, just (in your block diagram) put a black box on the known systems you use and give them a well-known name so others will know what mechanics, hardware or software goes into the those boxes.  Just show/deal with the aspect of other systems which are needed or used by your systems and/or methods.

    In case you are not familiar, a traditional flowchart must have only a serial and logical decision paths.  A box in a flowchart performs an action and can only have a single output to either another action box or to a decision diamond.  Any path splits must be done by a decision diamond, which must be based on a single variable being true or false, with respective paths leaving the decision diamond and going either to another decision diamond for another variable or an action box. 
     
    For example, a diamond cannot have 2 or more "yes" paths going to different boxes at least because that would require a parallel processor and can result in unpredictable behavior due to race conditions in the path loops.  Thus, it is not logical and not acceptable to the USPTO. 
  9. NOTE: Drawings may be submitted as MS WORD, PowerPoint, Any Adobe product, AutoCAD 2008, CorelDraw, and Visio project format files, and what ever they can import.  Other formats we can import include PDF, AIT, CGM, CDR, EPS, ES, EMF, Freehand, PIC, PCT, PIC, PCT, PCX, PCD, PXR, SVG, TGA, and WMF. Otherwise image files will work, in the following high resolution format (1 bit .tif, 1 bit .gif, or 8 bit jpg) as required by the USPTO: 600 dpi (minimum), Black & White, 8 ½ x 11 in.  Save images in 1 bit Black & White 600 dpi (but, no less than 300dpi) .gif format for the smallest file sizes.  For VISIO 2002 or newer, just do "save as" GIF format, and set the resolution to 600 dpi. USPTO drawings must be strictly B/W line drawings and cannot include grayscale shading.  For your reference, when you open the image in your editor, look at its image properties and you will notice its resolution in dpi (e.g., 300 dpi), image format in bits (e.g., 24-bit color format or 1 bit Black/White).  Note that even though to your eyes the image may look B & W, it could be saving it as 24-bit color.  To get true B & W images, when saving the image in GIF or TIFF format, change the "settings" or "options" to force it to save as "Black & White" or monochrome.  File sizes are under 100 K in 1-bit B & W instead of 4 Mbytes for full color 24-bit images.  If you are having trouble forcing it monochrome, then your image likely has gray shades in it.  If so, then save the images as  GIF or JPG with the following settings: 300 dpi, 8 bit gray scale, at high quality- the file sizes will be under 500 Kbytes each, 10 times smaller than 24-bit format.
  10. DRAWINGS: drawings must have a clean white background and must not have any stray lines, gray shading, smudges, or marks. Keep in mind that if your drawings include gray scale shadings and/or colors they will not be accepted by the USPTO.  Any shadowing effects in your CAD drawings should be removed.  These lighting effects are great for showing 3-D features, but the USPTO will scan them in monochrome black, so nice looking gray scale images will look like a FAXed photograph- if you have ever seen one, they come out almost all black.

  11. NOTE: be sure to keep 1" margins clear on all sides, don't use shaded regions (i.e., line drawings only), and make lines thick enough and alpha-numerics big enough (i.e., above 14 font) for USPTO scanning.  Element numbers should have 14 point font, Figure labels (e.g., FIG. 1) should have 18 point font, and the Sheet labels (e.g., 1/7) 16 point font. Fonts anywhere in your drawings must be at least 12 point TimesRoman (10 point Arial), or the USPTO will not accept them. 

    Also, make sure that your drawings clearly show the features you what to claim protection of so that anyone can easily understand what you are describing without reading the text.  We have an in-house draftsman that handles creating figures compliant with the complex USPTO rules.  See the quote we sent you and our website for more details.  We can even take color pictures and turn them into legal patent figures.  Our standard rate is $80/sheet for simple figures (converting from a color photo is probably a little more).  If you already have (computer or hand) drawings or photos, and would like us to quote you a fee to prepare formal or informal drawings, then just submit them to us with a request.  Keep in mind, that unless you plan to file a non-publication request (see above), formal (i.e., USPTO compliant) drawings are required.
  12. Drawings of known things, if not very well known, might be useful in the background section if it helps tell the story of why the world needs your invention.

  13. Regarding unclaimed material left in a patent, it will be "dedicated to the public" if not claimed within 2 years of patent issuance. If you think you will ever want to claim it, then you might want to leave it in. If not, and it does not support anything else in the application, then cut it out.

  14. Note that for drawings that you think may not show a novel application of your invention, if you can think of some advantage that the novel features of your invention offer to prior-art applications (even if somewhat imaginative) that you wish to block the use of your invention for, then it may be worth adding drawings showing such "novel" use.  FYI, having it in the spec does not hurt you if it is not claimed explicitly in the claims and the creative advantage is not actually false.  Else if no creative feature is thought of, then just mention examples of the known commercial applications where your invention is also useful as text only, without drawings.
  15. Furthermore, please keep in mind that when it comes to your disclosed invention "minor changes" = "obvious changes" and in conjunction with my drafting the patent broadly (this is where patent quality comes into play), the courts would interpret equivalent structures or functions as infringing your patent.  FYI, no one can patent obvious changes of your invention.  The mechanical/structural details in your drawings make it clear that you have at least one enabled example that would work.  Often it is the case, esp. for mechanical/electrical inventions that any one could easily reverse engineer your product after they get their hands on it, so it usually does not pay to hide implementation details to avoid copyist, because you risk lack of enablement and may weaken the enforceability of your patent.  By showing its basic details, we clearly define it.  You should think about all the variations that you would worry about, and completely describe them, and optionally make figures showing them.  You should definitely completely describe and show drawings for variations of your invention that you believe would be commercially viable, and encroach on your business.
GENERAL NOTICE
 
  1. NOTICE: Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing, for any work (including, but not limited to, patent application preparation and filing and prosecution), Bay Area IP cannot meet a patent bar date or any other kind of deadline unless you engage us and provided your detailed disclosure for work both at least 60 days prior to the deadline or bar date.  If any prospective or existing client has a pending patent bar date or any other kind of deadline, it must be disclosed in writing to Bay Area IP both upon engagement and and at least 60 days prior to the deadline or bar date or concurrent with the cost estimate for patent preparation/prosecution or any other related service such as prior-art searches.  If you have not given us such notice, engaged us, and provided your detailed disclosure for work all at least 60 days prior to the deadline or bar date, you should inform us immediately of any filing deadline, and we will work on a "best efforts" basis to accommodate you.  Rush fees may apply depending on the required turn-around time and our cases load.
  2. A PPA provides "Patent-Pending" status for only one year, and automatically becomes abandoned when its pendency expires 12 months after the provisional filing date by operation of law. You must file a utility application claiming benefit of the earlier PPA's filing date in the USPTO before the PPA pendency period expires (i.e., one year from filing the PPA) in order to preserve any benefit from the PPA filing; i.e., if your PPA expires, you will loose the earlier PPA filing date and will have to refile a patent application having a new, and later date.
  3. A PPA filing initiates the Paris Convention priority year (i.e., an internationally recognized filing date whereby the deadline to file a foreign patent application is measure from).  Hence, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A CORRESPONDING FOREIGN/PCT PATENT APPLICATION IS 1 YEAR AFTER FILING THE PPA.
  4. You understand that, by law, if your invention is "in use" or "on sale" (see 35 U.S.C. §102(b)) in the United States, or you disclosed the invention to the general public without a Confidentiality Agreement (i.e., a public disclosure act has occurred) prior to filing a PPA or Utility, you may lose the right to ever patent the invention (see 35 U.S.C. §102(b)) in the US if the public act was more than one-year prior to the US filing. In some countries patent rights are lost if the public act occurred any time prior to the US filing.
  5. By law, after filing a corresponding utility application, a claim (under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)) for the benefit of a prior PPA must be filed during the pendency of the utility application, and within four months of the utility application filing date or within sixteen months of the PPA filing date (whichever is later).
  6. You fully understand that a PPA will not mature into a granted patent without filing a utility patent application within one year after the PPA filing date. Thus, if during the "Patent-Pending" period of your PPA you find that your idea has marketable value, and desire patent protection starting from you PPA's filing date, you must apply for a utility patent within one year after the PPA filing date.
  7. The PPA is held in strict confidence by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
  8. You will have "Patent Pending" once your application is filed at the USPTO.  Assuming your prompt draft review, this will occur in the amount of time indicated in your written quote, which is measure starting from when we receive your complete detailed disclosure.
  9. For some idea of USPTO formal drawing rules if you wish to do them yourself, see http://www.bayareaip.com/ipinfo/Patents/General_info/drawing.htm.
  10. Please notify us ASAP if you will be making an assignment of patent ownership, and provide us all assignment information.  We will send you an assignment agreement from the USPTO.  You may use it, or your own suitable form, to to record the assignment of your patent in the USPTO.  The assignment will have to be Notarized to make the form official.  Please read the pertinent laws on this in the postscript below my signature.   Please note, that the assignment may be recorded at any time, and under normal circumstances cannot affect the official filing date of your application.
  11. Per Patent Law: Your written description of your invention submitted to me must describe the manner and process of making and using your invention in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in a related art to make and use your invention and must also describe the best way contemplated to making and using your invention.

 

General Terms

Prior to ordering our Drafting Basic PPA service, you acknowledged that you understand and accept the following:

  1. Our "PPA Drafting Basic" level of service, item 7PA, includes “email support” consisting of answering your questions by email that are not answered in our PPA Kit, or our website. The email support period lasts for 1 week starting from the first email question received from you. All questions must be directly related to preparing a PPA to meet minimum legal requirements.
  2. Our PPA Drafting Basic service requires that your communicate with us only by email, and provide us an electronic format Invention Disclosure Form or draft PPA, readable in Microsoft Windows, and prepared according to all the PPA Kit instructions and our email suggestions, if any. As with any patent application, the draft PPA we prepare is only as accurate as the Invention Disclosure you provide us.
  3. A PPA provides "Patent-Pending" status for only one year, and automatically becomes abandoned when its pendency expires 12 months after the provisional filing date by operation of law. You must file a utility application claiming benefit of the earlier PPA's filing date in the USPTO before the PPA pendency period expires (i.e., one year from filing the PPA) in order to preserve any benefit from the PPA filing; i.e., if your PPA expires, you will loose the earlier PPA filing date and will have to refile a patent application having a new, and later date.
  4. A PPA filing initiates the Paris Convention priority year (i.e., an internationally recognized filing date whereby the deadline to file a foreign patent application is measure from). Hence, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A CORRESPONDING FOREIGN/PCT PATENT APPLICATION IS 1 YEAR AFTER FILING THE PPA.
  5. You understand that, by law, if your invention is "in use" or "on sale" (see 35 U.S.C. §102(b)) in the United States, or you disclosed the invention to the general public without a Confidentiality Agreement more than one year prior to filing a PPA or Utility patent applicaiton, you may lose the right to ever patent the invention (see 35 U.S.C. §102(b)).
  6. By law, after filing a corresponding utility application, a claim (under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)) for the benefit of a prior PPA must be filed during the pendency of the utility application, and within four months of the utility application filing date or within sixteen months of the PPA filing date (whichever is later).
  7. You fully understand that a PPA will not mature into a granted patent without filing a utility patent application within one year after the PPA filing date. Thus, if during the "Patent-Pending" period of your PPA you find that your idea has marketable value, and desire patent protection starting from you PPA's filing date, you must apply for a utility patent within one year after the PPA filing date.
  8. The PPA is held in strict confidence by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Please note that there is always some risk in filing a document as a provisional application.  For one, we remind you that a provisional application is not a regular patent application and will not mature into a U.S. patent.  In addition, the document to be filed must still meet all the requirements under U.S law as for a regular patent application.  Therefore, we strongly recommend that a regular application be filed as soon as possible. 

 
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