专利备案是一条临时措施

A provisional application for patent is a U.S. national application for patent
filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). It
allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any
information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to
establish an early effective filing date in a later filed non-provisional
patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(a). It also
allows the term “Patent Pending” to be applied in connection with the
description of the invention.

专利申请是专业的工作，最好找专利律师协助，但是如果你自己想省钱并且对专利是否一定要获得不是十分看重，你就可以走“专利备案 Provisional application for patent"这样一个捷径. 请注意专利备案不是专利申请，它就是将你的想法记录下来，然后记录下来寄给专利局并付大概100美元，就完成了。然后就可以在12个月内宣称”Patent Pending" 来吓唬竞争者和寻找严肃的合作伙伴。
如果在12个月快到期时，你真想要一个专利，最好花8千美元左右请一个专利律师来帮助你。依照你的专利备案来起草一个专利申请，请搞清楚这时才是专利申请！！！花钱是花在专利申请上。

PROVISIONAL APPLICATION FOR PATENT

FEBRUARY
2011

BACKGROUND
Since June 8, 1995, the United
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has offered inventors the option of
filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a
lower-cost first patent filing in the United States and to give U.S. applicants
parity with foreign applicants under the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements.

A provisional application for patent
is a U.S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). It
allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any
information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to
establish an early effective filing date in a later filed non-provisional
patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(a). It also
allows the term “Patent Pending” to be applied in connection with the
description of the invention.

A provisional application for patent
(provisional application) has a pendency lasting 12 months from the date the
provisional application is filed. The 12-month pendency period cannot be
extended. Therefore, an applicant who files a provisional application must
file a corresponding non-provisional application for patent (non-provisional
application) during the 12-month pendency period of the provisional application
in order to benefit from the earlier filing of the provisional application. In
accordance with 35 U.S.C. §119(e), the
corresponding non-provisional application must contain or be amended to contain
a specific reference to the provisional application.

Once a provisional application is
filed, an alternative to filing a corresponding non-provisional application is
to convert the provisional application to a non-provisional application by
filing a grantable petition under 37 C.F.R. §1.53(c)(3)
requesting such a conversion within 12 months of the provisional application filing
date.

However, converting a provisional
application into a non-provisional application (versus filing a nonprovisional
application claiming the benefit of the provisional application) will have a
negative impact on patent term. The term of a patent issuing from a
nonprovisional application resulting from the conversion of a provisional
application will be measured from the original filing date of the provisional
application.

By filing a provisional application
first, and then filing a corresponding non-provisional application that
references the provisional application within the 12-month provisional
application pendency period, a patent term endpoint may be extended by as much
as 12 months.

PROVISIONAL APPLICATION FOR PATENT
FILING DATE REQUIREMENTS

The provisional application must be
made in the name(s) of all of the inventor(s). It can be filed up to 12 months
following the date of first sale, offer for sale, public use, or publication of
the invention, whichever occurs first. (These pre-filing disclosures, although
protected in the United States, may preclude patenting in foreign countries.)

A filing date will be accorded to a
provisional application only when it contains:

a written description of the invention, complying with
     all requirements of

     35 U.S.C. §112 ¶ 1;
     and

• any drawings necessary to understand the invention,
       complying with
  
       35 U.S.C. §113.

If either of these items are missing
or incomplete, no filing date will be accorded to the provisional
application. To be complete, a provisional application must also include
the filing fee as set forth in 37 CFR 1.16(d) and a cover
sheet* identifying:

the application as a provisional application for
     patent;

• the name(s) of all inventors;
• inventor residence(s);
• title of the invention;
• name and registration number of attorney or agent and
       docket number (if applicable);
• correspondence address; and
• any U.S. Government agency that has a property interest
       in the application.