The basic form of protection for an invention found to be patentable after a search of prior patents is a provisional patent. Filing a provisional patent establishes a priority date valid for 12 months and recognized in all countries signatory to the PCT (approximately 140 countries), including Canada and the United States. This priority date can then be claimed when filing formal patent applications, provided these applications are filed before the expiry date of the provisional patent.

The provisional patent can be filed in the United States or England. For practical and economic reasons, at Inventarium, we prefer to file it in England. The provisional patent is never published or examined; it will be automatically granted provided it meets the patent office's acceptance criteria.

Before the end of the 12-month period, if you are not yet ready, technically or financially, to proceed with filing your formal patent application, you can re-file your provisional patent. However, you will then lose the advantage conferred by the first filing date, as only the date of the second application will be considered. This means that if someone else has filed a patent application for a similar invention within the previous 12 months, the patent will be granted to them, and you will have to abandon your project.

The main advantage of this provisional patent is that it allows you to verify the viability of your product before incurring expenses for its development and official launch. Furthermore, considering that a formal patent requires a significant investment, if the results of your study are unsatisfactory and you decide to abandon the project, you will have saved substantial sums of money that you can dedicate to your next invention.

The provisional patent is drafted by our patent drafter based on the information disclosed in the confidential disclosure form. It includes the description of the invention, a general claim, technical drawings, and a summary. The inventor is responsible for providing the technical drawings that must accompany the description of their invention. If they do not have these drawings, Inventarium can create them for them at a very competitive price. Our drafter works closely with the patent drafter and will be able to produce the exact number of drawings required.

As soon as your provisional patent is filed, we will send you the priority date and registration number. Your invention can then be disclosed securely, whether for development, market testing, finding interested companies or investors, etc. However, it is recommended that you have confidentiality agreements signed by all parties to whom you present your invention for development or commercialization purposes.

You will receive the official acknowledgment of receipt of your provisional patent within five to ten days, at which point you can order one or more certified copies. This document, duly sealed by the patent office, could prove very useful during any meetings with investors, companies, or other parties.

During the one-year protection period of your provisional patent, it is important to make every effort to quickly develop your product so that you can file your formal patent applications before the expiry date.