Provisional Patent Registration: All you need to know

The Patent Act provides that an applicant can file the Provisional application or Complete application to obtain the patent certificate. Where the Complete application is the final application where no modifications can be made. But after filing the provisional application, the applicant can make modifications in his application while filing the Complete application.

Further, when the provisional registration is done, the applicant must within a period of twelve months from the date of filing the application file the complete application. Where the complete application is not filed within the stipulated period, the application shall become abandoned

Who can file a Provisional Patent Registration?

Patent Registration can be done by:

• A person is the original inventor of the invention.
• The assignee of the person who is the original inventor of the invention.
• The legal representative of a deceased person, who was entitled to apply for a patent immediately before his death.

What details are provided with Provisional Patent Registration?

Section 10 of the Patents Act, 1970, provides the details to be mentioned in the application for patent. The provisional application shall contain:

• Title of the invention,
• Description of the invention,
• Drawings shall also form part of the specification, as per the direction of the Controller.

What benefits can be obtained by the inventor making Provisional Patent Registration?

• The inventor can take advantage of the priority date being the earlier date of filing.
• Complete patent registration requires a huge cost. Where the inventor does not have enough financial support to fill the complete registration, he can apply for a provisional patent because of the involvement of low cost in the process of a provisional patent.
• Fewer legal procedures are required in provisional patent registration.
• The inventor can abandon the application if he chooses not to get the patent without getting disturbed about the cost involved in the entire process.
• The inventor has the advantage to make additions or changes to the invention specification which has been filed with provisional patent registration.
• The inventor gets the opportunity to improve his invention, as he gets protected for 12 months after filing provisional patent registration.

Are Provisional Patents published by the Patent Office?

Provisional patents don’t get published, only the complete applications are forwarded for publication. Provisional patent registration gets abandoned if the complete application is not filed by the applicant within the stipulated time period.

Provisional patent registrations are not a mandatory requirement for obtaining the patent certificate, rather it is just a preliminary step towards obtaining the patent. Filing of provisional patent registrations provides various advantages to the inventor and it also gives him the opportunity to access the market in order to check the potential of his invention.