Each
jurisdiction is different in terms of its “first to disclose”, “first to file”
and “first to invent” rules. First to file and first to invent - Wikipedia
You
should file a provisional patent application as soon as
possible (to establish your patent’s priority date) if you are filing your
patent application in the US because USPTO follows a “first inventor to file”
rule. First Inventor to File
(FITF) Resources
I’ll
recommend the following course of action to help you file a provisional patent
application as quickly as possible:
a)
Conduct a through prior art search as soon as possible to make sure that your
idea is novel, non-obvious to others in your field, and has utility in real
life.
b)
Draft your first independent claim. Draft any additional
independent claims if you’ve more than one. Don’t waste your time on drafting
any dependent claims at this stage.
c)
Focus on writing as many possible embodiments you can think of
for implementing not only your independent claim(s) that you have drafted but
also for all possible dependent claims (that you’ve not drafted). Refer
to 2164-The Enablement Requirement to guide you in writing your
embodiments.
d)
While drafting your embodiments, draw as many diagrams as
possible to show your invention and its implementation. Follow Patent
Drawing Rules: Everything You Need to Know. No need to use any fancy tools for doing your diagrams. Make
your drawings by hand for now to save some time.
e)
Provide a brief definition of any special terms that you are
using in your patent claims and embodiments.
f)
Draft a paragraph to serve as abstract. No need to write any
paragraphs covering background of the invention or summary of the invention.
Providing a list of prior art is also not needed at this stage.
You are
now ready to file a provisional patent application. File it without any delay
to establish a priority date. You’ll have a full year to file your
non-provisional patent after this date. During this one year time, also called
a “pendency period”, patent process is pending till you file your non-provisional patent application.
