Episode20-01 Patent Law of United States(No.1 Provisional Patent Application)

American patent applications can be dividedinto two categories: provisional patent applications and formal patentapplications.

The provisional patent application system wasfirst introduced in the United States in 1995. In the following sections, Iwill abbreviate the provisional patent application as PPA.

PPA mainly involve article 111 and 119 of theUnited States Patent Law. Article 111 stipulates the formal requirements of thedocuments and procedures that need to be submitted; Article 119 provides thatonly the holder of the PPA may file the relevant patent application within 12months from the provisional application. However, within 12 months, theapplicant must formally file a conversion request with the United States Patentand Trademark Office to convert the provisional patent application into aformal application. Otherwise, the provisional patent application will beuseless.