Our Services : Patent : Provisional Patent Applications (PPA) copy

 

About Our Provisional Patent Application (PPA) Practice

There are some good reasons to file a provisional application, however, it is not always a good idea.  Please review our FAQ on our Provisional Patent Application services and our overview on provisional applications before proceeding.

It is imperative to understand that although any inventor can file their own provisional application (pro se), if the provisional does not satisfy the multitude of “best practice” and legal requirements, you can easily lose some or all of your patent protection rights.  Understandably, many small business and independent inventors have an economic incentive to file a provisional application to attain presumed “Patent-Pending” legal protection while determining the invention’s market value before investing in the high cost of a non-provisional patent application.  A “Do-it-yourself” minded, Independent inventors, especially, should not be fooled to believe that anyone but a licensed professional should help you prepare and file your provisional application.  If your provisional application is insufficient, you not only lose any patent protection you thought you had, but even worse you will be barred from ever patenting your invention if it was ever publicly used or disclosed– a high risk to take just to avoid some 

small upfront expenses as detailed below.

Bay Area IP recognizes that individual and small business inventors sometimes need a very affordable provisional “Patent-Pending” protection mechanism that they can use for market new testing their invention before investing in a non-provisional patent, and at other times need a high quality provisional application to protect a potentially seminal invention.  That is why we offer two categories of service- the first is our quality oriented provisional application service, which serves clients who wish to have a relatively good quality follow-on non-provisional application.  The second category of service provides a vehicle for the low-budget independent inventors who are more concerned about attaining a “Patent-Pending” status at little cost so they can new test market their invention to determine its value before investing significant funds.  We refer to this category of provisional application as our Cost-focused Provisional Patent-Pending service.

Quality Oriented Provisional Application Service

The best way to get started is to our get started page, contact us, or directly request a quote online. Below is a more detailed explanation of our Quality Oriented Provisional Patent Application Services. 

In this collection of quality-oriented options, we prepare the provisional for you with a level of completeness tailored to your budget and needs.  Once you decide to go forward with a Provisional Application, we will work closely with you to tailor an approach customized to your individual needs.  Unlike most IP firms, Bay Area IP is very flexible in working with you to achieve your optimal balance between upfront investment risk verses potential future protection. Although we analyze every client’s situation individually, most who seek a quality follow-on non-provisional application will fall into one of the following general cost reduction options:

 

1.     Top Quality-  You provide a standard disclosure, we prepare the provisional as if it were a non-provisional, except for prior-art search and formal drawings.

Result:  Likely a better quality non-provisional application, and you defer about 40% of normal costs to the non-provisional application.

2.     Good Quality-  You provide a detailed disclosure according to our instruction, we prepare a provisional implementing best drafting practices and implement basic legal safeguards, nonessential sections are not included.

Result:  Likely an average quality non-provisional application, and you defer about 50% in normal costs to the non-provisional application.

3.     Basic Quality "Drafting Basic Plus"-  This level of services is the same as the "Drafting Basic" plus it further includes a broad claim and greater patent scope/strength provisions, which better support the future Utility Patent strength and are required to preserves your International patent rights because many countries do not respect a Provisional Patent Application filing without at least a broad claim.

Result:  Likely an OK quality non-provisional patent application, and you defer up to 80% in normal costs to the non-provisional application.  

Provisional Patent Application Drafting Basic

provisional patent application drafting"
For inventors who want a legal professional to legally draft their Provisional Patent Application at a relatively low cost, and are not too concerned about patent scope or preserving there International patent rights, yet want their Provisional Patent Application to at least cover their core product/service idea and include basic legal “best practices.”