A provisional specification incorporates a technical description of the invention together with any drawings or reaction schemes. The claims define the scope of the invention for which the applicant is seeking patent protection. Any modifications or improvements over the 12 month period from the priority date may also be incorporated. It is essential that any such improvement or modifications have not been publicly disclosed prior to filing the complete specification. Before the end of the 12 month period, corresponding overseas patent applications also need to be filed.
Overseas applications take the New Zealand provisional filing date as the priority date.
It is for this reason that overseas marketing can proceed even though an applicant has only filed a provisional patent application in New Zealand. More on filing applications overseas in a later Patent Proze . Once a complete specification has been filed, the patent application awaits its turn for examination at the New Zealand Patent Office. Recent changes in Patent Office practice have meant that examination occurs within two or three weeks of filing the complete specification. In most cases, examination results in the issuance of a report identifying objections the examiner has to the patent application or specification.