Service

Fast Quick & Dirty Provisional Patent App. (fPPA) ***Our Fee, Filing Only***

This Provisional Patent App. service is an additional service option we offer to only properly file a completed Provisional Patent Application document (disclosure + Figures) "as is", or you can just try filing it yourself.

There are many situations where a fast PPA is particularly helpful in important.  Typical situations that warrant a fast provisional are a public disclosure, meeting a patentability bar date, and/or achieving first to file when the timing is too close to prepare and file the completed patent application in time without rush fees. In these and many other applicable situations you would have us immediately file a fast PPA as outlined below.  A PPA filing satisfies the 1 year disclosure bar date law requirement so long as it covers all the matter that was previously disclosed or offered for sale to the public.

For example, one primary risk that a fast provisional filing helps mitigate is your first to file risk that either another smart person/company will get a filing in ahead of yours, or if your ideas are somehow leaked to a 3rd party (usually during prototyping, development, seeking funding or investors, etc. ), whereby they may file a patent application of their own, usually with variance of your main idea, and effectively take priority/ownership of your innovation, or at least limit you to a very narrow, often easy to design around version of your basic design, while they may get the broader scope.

Moreover, most of the world patent offices have been a first to file system for many decades now, and in many, if not most, foreign patent offices, your patent application will be automatically rejected if your innovation was in any way made or known to the public prior to filing a patent application. A US provisional patent application, appropriately prepared and filed with a broad claim typically constitutes a valid patent filing for the purposes of foreign offices and their first to file exclusion laws.

So, generally, once a team member identifies an inventive feature, decisions on whether or not to file a patent application will need to be made quickly in a first-to-file system. More frequent communication with your patent lawyer is key. Rather than hold monthly or quarterly meetings with your patent lawyer to discuss new inventions and the status of pending applications, plan to notify your lawyer of new inventions earlier and more often to avoid being beaten to the patent office.

The new first-to-file system will require aggressive and proactive action by innovators to avoid losing there intellectual property rights to others who get a patent filed first.  You should accordingly consult patent attorneys/agents and adjust your processes to account for these drastic changes in US patent law.
Another common situation where fast provisional is appropriate/critical is when you have made or expect to make a public disclosure (and/or bar date), which is much too close for your patent attorney to draft patent specification, iterate with you in the revisions process, and file the completed patent application in time, and without very steep rush fees.  

We can properly format your idea disclosure (e.g., from search IDFs or other docs) and promptly file it as a "quick & dirty", Fast Provisional Patent Application.  The USPTO a fee discount micro and small entities, and we likewise usually offer micro/small entities discounts when our caseload permits.  To start that work, just configure the options you want above and pay using our online checkout. Thereafter, you will be directed to our online administrative and documents intake process so that we can get working on case promptly after receipt.

The way this usually would work is that your invention submission is filed as a fast "quick & dirty" fPPA and will contain the core concepts/implementation details that the Utility will be based upon, which is usually enough to prove your possession of the invention at the earlier date.  Thus, the fast PPA is there at least as proof of earlier reduction to practice of your core innovation(s), which can be significant benefit in many ways- not the least of which is that it proves you had provisional patent basic rights ahead of anyone else who may later try to take your exact product/idea and file a patent for it.  Of course, such a “quick & dirty” PPA is very narrow and easy for others to get around, so, especially under the new first-to-file law, you should generally not wait more than 2-3 months to get the full patent application filed; otherwise, there is a much greater risk that others could patent loopholes in the fast PPA which are usually closed in the full patent.

How to Engage our Services

1)     Configure the above shopping cart options (if any) according to what best fits your situation, goals, and/or budget.   (you may always edit your cart to make any changes- see below for details)

a)     The service item may have a text entry field named "Please provide any Special Instructions...", where you should enter any specific guidance or information that may be helpful for us to properly process your order (e.g., any case number we've assigned, deadline situations, how this order relates to any other orders, etc.)

b)     The service item configuration total price will be reflected in the "Selected Combination Total" line item below any options menus.  Likewise, the "Service ID" will be updated to encode your configuration selections.

2)     Click the "select service" button to put the service item you configured into your shopping cart. You will notice shopping cart at the top right of the page, which indicates how many items it currently contains. Click that shopping cart icon anytime you want to see what items are in your shopping cart, and you'll notice a pencil icon on each item which enables you to go back and edit the item, and save your edits by again clicking the "select service" button.

3)     Click the "Checkout" button to begin the checkout process.  On the Checkout page, enter your email address, client status, and PoC information for the legal service you are ordering. Then click the “next intake page” button to proceed to the payment indication page.

4)     Make your payment off-line (i.e., not through our website) using one of the methods specified in the postscript of quoting email. Currently, online payment methods through our website are not implemented yet.

5)     After you made your payment off-line, return to the above payment page on our website where you will specify how much you paid, by what means, and some kind of transaction receipt/info for us to research and match it up to your order to approve it.

a)     NOTE: Most of our services require 100% prepayment of the quoted fee; however, if our emailed written quote indicates a lesser prepayment amount then instead of our standard full prepayment policy for reduced fixed-fee work, you can take advantage of a reduced minimum down payment fee (e.g., 50% of the quoted fixed-fee, plus any rush fee quoted) to start patent work on each case. The remaining fees are later due at least upon our completing the 1st draft of the ordered legal service for your review/revision and/or our filing.

b)     If you paid using methods like PayPal/Zelle/check/money order/bank wire/bank deposit/ etc., then during the above linked checkout process select the "off-line" payment option, which will ask you for which "off-line" payment means you use and a copy of the transaction information so that we may manually confirm and process it to credit it to your account.

6)     After you register your payment per the above, our system will guide you to our online new case intake forms to gather your administrative information for this new patent case (e.g., POC, contacts, inventors, assignees, work request details, service agreement, etc.).

7)     You will be emailed a link to proceed to our secure client portal dashboard to securely submit your materials, documents and instructions for our legal work.

8)     Our team reviews all your submissions and works with you to validate/improve anything needed for us to properly do our legal work.

Of course, if you have any questions not yet answered, or otherwise require any help, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will happily assist you.