What is a provisional application for patent (PAP)?

A provisional application for patent (PAP) is a way to establish and protect a "date of invention" for one year. The PAP was created to provide inventors with an inexpensive way to temporarily protect their inventions. The PAP gives you 12 months to prepare a full patent application. A PAP lets you establish an early effective filing date for a patent without a formal patent claim, oath, declaration or an information disclosure statement.