Tufte Law Office PC

Electronically, of course. The Patent Office makes this very easy.
Once you’ve finished up your application, convert it to a PDF. Many modern word processors will save to PDF. If yours doesn’t, install one of the free PDF printing tools such as the one that comes with my current favorite, Nitro PDF Reader.
Once in [...]

So, you’ve read some patents in the technical field of your invention.  You have some familiarity now with what is out there, and what level of detail you need to include to adequately describe your invention.

Your focus should be on what sets your invention apart from what is out there.  There is no need to describe [...]

There is no standard form for a provisional application for patent. A good guide to use to help ensure you have an adequate description of your invention is to locate a patent on a similar invention. A good first stop is google patents.  It’s easy, it’s free, and you likely already know how to do [...]

This week we discuss what goes in a provisional application.

As I explained last week, a provisional application is not examined and will never mature into a patent. So it should not be terribly surprising that there are no detailed requirements from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as to what must be in a provisional [...]

This post is the first in a series of informational articles about provisional patent applications: what they are; what advantages they have compared to non-provisional applications; what they cost; what risks and hazards they pose to the unwary.

We start at the beginning.

What is a provisional application for a patent?
First, let’s clarify a potentially [...]