What is a provisional and Non Provisional patent application? 1. PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION A provisional patent application is not a patent and will never become a patent with a single rare exception that is stated below. It will automatically expire after one year following the day of filling and cannot be revived. It provides a priority date for simultaneous later - filed non - provisional applications for the content in the provisional. This will mean that the references that defeat the later - filled app lication as to the matter in the provisional will not be utilized to defeat the later - filed application. A provisional patent application requires a full written specification and all the patent application drawing figures, but it does not need claims. A provisional patent application never sees the daylight and will always remain a secret unless a non - provisional patent application takes priority. 2. NON - PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION A non - provisional patent applicat ion is also known as a regular patent application or just a patent application. This is an actual application for a patent, and it will be examined and, ultimately, through the examination process, can mature into a patent. It is a term that ends twenty ye ars from the priority date, which may be the date it is filled. A complete non - provisional patent application consists of at least a requirement, all the drawing figures, and at least one invention. The drawings and specifications must disclose what is in the claims, but they do not compromise the invention; only the claims do. Twenty claims are paid with the filing fee, from which three may be independent claims that will stand alone. There are various types of non - provisional patent applications, includin g the parent application and continuation - in - part patent applications. WHICH COSTS LESS? People think that a provisional patent application is a less expensive way to get a patent for their Intellectual Property t han a non - provisional patent application. But this is not the case. Because the provisional expires and a non - provisional must be filed to take priority over the provisional, this two - step procedure is more expensive. A provisional patent application is in deed a less expensive way to get the pending patent status, but that will expire after a year unless a non - provisional patent needs to be filed within the time. Moreover, in order to be fully enabling and not waste money and time, the provisional must cont ain everything that a non - provisional would include except the claims. But, the provisional route is a more expensive route to obtain a patent. After reading this article, we hope that you can decide what will be best for you.