Patent prosecution begins with the drafting and filing of a patent application.
Under current US law, patent applications may be provisional or non-provisional. A provisional patent application is essentially a patent application without claims. A provisional patent application is not examined by the PTO but may be referenced in a non-provisional application, filed within one year of the provisional application, to establish the earlier filing date. In this manner, a provisional application essentially affords the inventor a patent term equal to 21 years from the date of filing rather than the standard 20 years. Within six months of filing, a filing date acknowledgement and foreign filing license will be forwarded.