不請律師-自己申請專利(13):臨時申請

有朋友問及美國臨時申請的事，請允許我在此談幾點我認為比較重要的問題。

臨時申請臨時在哪裏呢？就是一年後自動放棄(套用現在年輕人的表達，叫被放棄)。A provisional application automatically becomes abandoned when its pendency expires 12 months after the provisional application filing date by operation of law. 這一年內你必須幹兩件事之一，才能讓臨時申請物盡其用，修成正果。A provisional application cannot result in a U. S. patent unless one of the following two events occur within 12 months of the provisional application filing date: 要麽a corresponding non-provisional application for patent entitled to a filing date is filed that claims the benefit of the earlier filed provisional application; 要麽 a grantable petition under 37 CFR 1.53(c)(3) to convert the provisional application into a non-provisional application is filed. 正因為這個臨時性，你要小心別被人欺騙上當。Some invention promotion firms misuse the provisional application process leaving the inventor with no patent.

臨時申請的撰寫非常自由，前麵談的什麽八股文形式統統不講究。It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. 臨時申請唯獨要注意的就是幹部能下的問題。你需要把你的發明盡可能詳細描述，以便支持你將來幹部能上的要求。Although a claim is not required in a provisional application, the written description and any drawing(s) of the provisional application must adequately support the subject matter claimed in the later-filed non-provisional application in order for the later-filed non-provisional application to benefit from the provisional application filing date. 你要ensure that the disclosure filed as the provisional application adequately provides a written description of the full scope of the subject matter regarded as the invention and desired to be claimed in the later filed non-provisional application.

我個人認為臨時申請的最大好處有兩個。一個眾所周知，It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a later-filed non-provisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111(a). 另外一個就是它可以讓你立即投入發明的推廣銷售活動，而不用擔心被人偷走技術。這對華人朋友們艱苦創業這段時間應該很重要。Enables immediate commercial promotion of the invention with greater security against having the invention stolen;

對於臨時申請的其它問題，大家可以下載閱讀美國專利局的一個小冊子。這個文件不長，就幾頁，也很簡明，你一看就懂。網址是

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/ProvApp.pdf