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October 07, 2004

public service announcement -- accurate description of a provisional patent application

I was surfing through my newsaggregator (Newsgator) this evening and ran across a post entitled:

"AuGrid Awarded Provisional Patent for Nanoparticle Formulation"

I would normally skip over a press release item like this but something struck me as being somewhat off.  Then it hit me, the USPTO does not "award" provisional patents.  There is no such thing as a provisional patent -- it is a provisional patent application, a preliminary document that may eventually issue as a patent if, and only if, the provisional patent application is converted into a full fledged utility patent application within 12 months.

Even more curious now, I went to read the entire article, which started with this paragraph:

AuGRID Corporation today announced it has received from the United States Patents Office, a preliminary acceptance notice on its provisional patent filed last May. The Company is now preparing and amending the final draft of the full patent filing under each of its applications. The Patent consist of several combinations of particle design, based on the fundamental interaction and transport of particles through various environments using sophisticated techniques to unravel the transport and biological processes taking place at the nano level.

What?  A "preliminary notice on its provisional patent"?  There is no such thing.  This appears to be a bit of marketing department overreach.

A provisional patent application is simply a means of getting information on file with the USPTO quickly, fairly inexpensively and in a looser format than is required for a regular utility application.  A provisional patent application is not reviewed by the USPTO and can never mature into an issued patent. A provisional patent application pends for 12 months at which period of time it must be "converted" into a regular utility patent application.  If the provisional patent application is indeed converted before the expiration of the 12 month period of time, the regular utility application will be given the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application.

A provisional patent application provides the means for getting an application pending quickly in situations where time is of the essence -- for example, a public disclosure is imminent, financial resources are limited or the value of the technology is not yet known.  Provisional patent applications are not reviewed and they are certainly not "preliminarily accepted".

Marketers run amok!

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:01 PM.
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