Definition

Provisional Patent Application

A low-cost, informal filing at the USPTO that establishes a priority date without requiring formal claims, patent figures, or legal formatting. Filing fee as low as $65 for micro-entities (individual inventors meeting USPTO criteria). Grants 12 months of patent-pending status during which the inventor can disclose the idea, fundraise, and build without losing patent rights. Must be converted to a full non-provisional application within 12 months to mature into a granted patent. Ophir cites provisionals as the most criminally underused tool in the founder's legal stack: only ~170,000 filed per year in the US versus ~700,000 non-provisional applications, despite the expected ratio being the inverse.

From the episode “How Do I Protect My Idea?”

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