Are claims required for a provisional patent application to receive a filing date?
No, claims are not required for a provisional patent application to receive a filing date. This is explicitly stated in 35 U.S.C. 111(b)(2), which provides that “[a] claim, as required by subsections (b) through (e) of section 112, shall not be required in a provisional application.”
The MPEP confirms this by stating: “In addition, 35 U.S.C. 111(b)(2) provides that ‘[a] claim, as required by subsections (b) through (e) of section 112, shall not be required in a provisional application.'”
This provision allows inventors to quickly establish a priority date for their invention without the need to draft formal patent claims, which can be a complex and time-consuming process.
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Topics:
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure