Provisional Patents FAQs

Descriptions submitted with a provisional application for patent can be informal. This means they do not need to be in a standardized form. However, the U.S. Patent Office strongly recommends submitting very specific descriptions that adequately describe how to make and use your invention. This is because highly detailed descriptions make it easier for the U.S. Patent Office to later associate your full patent application to your earlier filed provisional application. This provides stronger evidence in the event of a third party inventorship dispute.