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Provisionals
You have probably seen the ads for legalzoom™ legal document services. Among other things, they refer to helping a customer obtain a "provisional patent." It is a common mistake; there is no such thing as a "provisional patent."
The law allows you to file a "provisional patent application," but this can never become a patent. It is used to make a "priority claim" in another (nonprovisional) patent application which must be filed within one year. Whether this is beneficial to you depends on how well your provisional application is drafted. If, as is typical, it is drafted poorly or incompletely, it provides little or no benefit, and it may even be detrimental.
For more on the provisional application, click here.