How does claiming benefit to a provisional application affect the effective filing date?

Claiming benefit to a provisional application can affect the effective filing date of a claimed invention as follows:

If the application properly claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to a provisional application, the effective filing date of a claimed invention is the filing date of the provisional application for any claims which are fully supported under 35 U.S.C. 112 by the provisional application.

This means that:

• Claims fully supported by the provisional application can have the provisional’s filing date as their effective filing date.
• The support must meet the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112, including written description and enablement.
• Claims not fully supported by the provisional will have a later effective filing date, typically the actual filing date of the non-provisional application.

Properly claiming benefit to a provisional application can provide an earlier effective filing date, which can be crucial for establishing priority and overcoming prior art.

To learn more:

• effective filing date
• provisional application
• priority claim
• 35 U.S.C. 119(e)