Definition[]
U.S. patent law[]
A provisional patent application is a patent application filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a nonprovisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C §111(a) and automatically becomes abandoned after one year. It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied.