Remember the time you read about or saw a really successful product, and said to yourself, “@#$!, That was MY idea!?”   Or, have you held on to a really cool idea because you didn’t want to tell to many people about it, but didn’t know what to do next?  Well, I’ve got some good news for you…  You can pay Uncle Sam $100, and protect your other ideas through a provisional patent.

Getting a patent filed can be very complicated, expensive, and timely (the entire process typically takes 2-5 years).  Luckily, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) came to realize this challenge, and so they created a new way to temporarily protect your idea through a provisional patent application.

When filed correctly, a provisional patent will protect your idea for one year from the filing date, which is roughly the date you send your application to the USPTO.  This will allow you to ’shop’ your idea around so you can see if it’s worth future investment.  I’ve also met a handful of patent attorneys who are much more excited about helping you write your full blown patent application once you can prove your idea is compelling to potential customers or partners… which means they might help for almost free to spread word of mouth, or maybe get in on your idea.

But, before you go too far, spend a couple hours searching your idea on the USPTO website to make sure your idea isn’t already claimed.  Or, hire a patent attorney to do a search for you (should cost less than $500). 

Once you feel comfortable that your invention hasn’t already been claimed, writing a provisional patent application is actually pretty easy.  There are some basic guidelines you should follow to make sure you capture your invention correctly.  One pitfall of provisional patents is submitting too detailed or too broad of an idea.  I’d recommend reading Nolo’s Patent Pending in 24hours (available on Amazon), or LegalZoomhas a decent online application process, but it will cost you a few extra bucks – they charge $199 on top of the USPTO filing fee to help facilitate the process.

Best of all… as soon as you file your provisional patent application, you can start using “Patent Pending” to describe your invention!