Provisional Patent Applications

A provisional application locks in a filing date, and the applicant has a one-year period in order to file a non-provisional application.  An applicant can claim "patent pending" status without the costs associated with a full-blown application.  The primary difference for a provisional is that "claims" are not made, which are the sought after legal protection that an issued patent provides.  Claims must be supported by the specification, that is, the written description and usually drawings of the proposed invention, and even though a provisional buys a one-year window, the claims of the later non-provisional must be supported by the original specification.  A provisional application also has the potential benefit of buying time to raise funds for the proposed invention.