Benefits of a provisional patent

A provisional patent application offers quite a few benefits over filing of a complete patent application directly, some of which are listed below:

Faster preparation and filing – A provisional patent application in India can be prepared and filed quickly than a corresponding complete patent application. Since the provisional patent application needs to ensure only sufficiency of disclosure and need not include sections like claims, abstract, etc.; a provisional patent application can be filed in a few days as opposed to a complete patent application which may take a week or more.

Secure earlier filing date – Since a provisional patent application can be prepared and filed faster, it helps to secure an earlier filing date and gives 12 months of time to conduct additional experiments and fine tune the invention.

Lower costs and more time to raise funds – Since a provisional patent application can be prepared in lesser amount of time, you can save significant drafting costs upfront. Further, the 12-month complete patent application filing window can be used to explore the commercial viability of the invention or fund raising possibility before investing additional money in filing a complete patent application.

Better evaluation of patentability – Considering most of the countries follow an 18 month period after which patent applications are published, any application which is filed suffers from a 18 month dark zone with respect to same or similar inventions which could kill the patentability of the patent application. Filing a provisional patent application gives a 12-month window to file a complete patent application. The same window also helps applicants to conduct a search in the last few months and explore any new prior art which wasn’t available at the time of filing of the provisional patent to evaluate if filing a complete application, or PCT application makes business sense.

Safely discuss with investors – Considering many investors are not keen on signing NDA’s during discussions, filing a provisional patent application in India secures the all-important filing date which can secure your technology even if the investor you talk to ends up investing not in your company but your competitors.

Patent pending – Once you have filed a provisional patent application, you are legally allowed to use the patent pending tag, which can be quite useful in your marketing related activities.

cost for filing a provisional patent application in India

The provisional patent application filing cost in India varies depending on the type of applicant filing the application and ranges from ₹ 1,600 to ₹ 8,000. The government fees are provided below:

Type of applicant		Filing fee (efiling)		Page fee (over 30)		Claim fee (over 10)
Individuals & Startups		₹ 1,600		₹ 160		₹ 320
Small entity		₹ 1,600		₹ 160		₹ 320
	Others		₹ 8,000		₹ 800		₹ 1,600

The professional fee for drafting and filing a provisional patent application starts at ₹ 9,999 for individuals and startups. So, the total cost for provisional patent application filing in India can start at ₹ 11,699 for individuals and startups.

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