There's no such thing as a provisional patent. A provisional application can be filed up to a year before your product or process is ready for a regular patent application, in order to give you an earlier filing date and allow the use of the phrase "patent pending." Provisional applications have no examination, and are therefore considerably easier and cheaper to file, giving you a year to prepare the "real thing."
When a provisional application is submitted electronically, the materials are automatically entered into the system, and you will fairly quickly receive a receipt acknowledging your submission date.
Provisional Patent Application
Get StartedThe provisional patent application is designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States. It allows patent filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure statement of pre-existing inventions (prior art). It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied in connection with the description of the invention. By filing a provisional patent, the inventor benefits in three ways:The ability to patent the invention can be assessed with less cost and effort than going through the full non-provisional patent process.The resulting publication or patent will be given the earlier provisional application filing date.The twenty-year patent term is still measured from the later non-provisional application filing date.Although the provisional application is less involved than the non-provisional application, the provisional application must adequately describe the subject matter claimed in the later-filed non-provisional application to benefit from the provisional application filing date. The specification of the invention in the application should describe the manner and process of making and using the invention, in full, clear, concise and exact terms so that any person "skilled in the art to which the invention pertains" could make and use the invention.A provisional patent application is good for 12 months from the date it is filed. The 12-month period cannot be extended. Therefore, an applicant who files a provisional application must file a corresponding non-provisional patent application during the 12-month period to benefit from the earlier filing date. 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, the term of a patent can be extended by as much as 12 months.
It would be smart to get a provisional patent first. They are inexpensive and can be useful for two reasons. Reason number one, they are a patent an will protect your idea. Reason number two, it is much faster to acquire a provisional patent than it is to apply for a registered patent.
No, an inventor would typically file a provisional application at some time prior to filing the non-provisional and then cite the provisional and incorporate it by reference, to obtain the benefit of the earlier filing date and all that is disclosed in the provisional. You can file any number of provisional applications then one or more non-provisional applications citing one or more of the provisionals when you're ready.
A non drafted provisional application provides the means to establish an early priotiy date. It allows filing without any formal patent claims, declaration or any information disclosure (prior art statements). Such applications enable inventor to put 'Patent Pending' on his products. If provisional application is fully drafted it allows the inventor to have a better claim over his invention in view of potential infringer. He can claim his invention in a wider manner.
A provisional driver is one until they complete the full requirements.
A "non-provisional" patent is one filed as a national application, in the proper form (e.g., title, abstract, overview, details, claims, drawings, fees, declarations, etc), having one or more claims to an invention, along with a request that it be examined. A provisional application has no requirement for any of these.
The website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office links to a patent application form in PDF format. The link is about half-way down the page, under "provisional application for patent..." http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/types/provapp.jsp
The smartest thing to do is to get provisional patent that only cost $50 and can protect your invention for a year. And after a year when you have your money, you can then continue to have 20 years patent.
There are two basic types of utilty patents: the non-provisional and the provisional application. Both types of patent applications are held in confidence by the USPTO, they will not show your application to anyone. Design patents are always non-provisional applications.
He invented the aerosol can. The Norwegian patent was submitted in 1926 and approved in 1929. He filed the United States Patent application on 30 September 1927 and it was approved on 7 April 1931.
In US patent practice, the terms you're using, "full patent" and "mechanical patent," don't have any meaning. The United States Patent and Trademark Office grants three types of non-provisional patents: design patents, plant patents, and utility patents. They protect different things; one doesn't "override" the other.