One of the first issues an inventor or business owner must be clear on is discerning the difference between a Provisional Patent Application and a Non-provisional Patent Application. The differences are simple; yet, substantial. A Provisional Patent Application is like a snap-shot of a system at a particular point in time, which may change in the future. You as the inventor are free to change the design, converting your patent application to a Non-provisional one. This Non-Provisional Patent Application, however, is fixed. It is the application that includes claims that define the boundaries of your innovative concept. This is one that will be examined

1 – Provisional

A Provisional Patent Application (PPA) by inference refers to an innovative concept as it is presently arranged, which can possibly be changed later. This is what makes it a Provisional Application, as the definition of provisional implies. This type of application enables you to "save" the filing date, so to speak; which will cover the arrangement that you filed for up to 12 months. It expires after the 12 month period. This buys you time to assess the marketability of the product or further enhance your concept. Within the 12 months, you may file a Non-Provisional patent application on the same disclosure. In the alternative, you may add to the disclosure any improvements by filing a Continuation-in-Part Application; yet, only the disclosure submitted with the Provisional will benefit from the filing date of the same.

Some choose to file a PPA immediately before a need to offer their innovative concept for sale or to publish a paper on their innovative concept in a technical or scientific journal. This is due to the rule that stipulates that your invention cannot be known by others more than a year prior to filing for a patent application. More importantly, it may be best to file the your innovative concept prior to the knowledge of others, so that you can be first to file the patent application.