“It’s just a provisional!” – famous last words.

Well, let me qualify that. Often, there is no immediate detriment to an incomplete provisional – stressing the word “immediate”.

Many folks prepare (and file) an inexpensive provisional application – maybe composed by the inventors, sometimes using generative AI. A provisional application won’t get examined, so why not save money and resources until they are needed, when the (subsequent) non-provisional is filed?

On one hand, provisional applications don’t get examined; they rather serve as a placeholder in time. But not all placeholders are created equal.

Meaning that in many scenarios, the quality of that placeholder will get scrutinized.

Example #1: You file the provisional and soon after a PR describing the advance.  You later want to amend the claims of your non-provisional application, but the amendment doesn’t find support in the provisional application. You might be barred from making that amendment.

Example #2: YourClosestCompetitor Ltd. files a patent application a few months after your provisional. You filed first, so you won the race, right? Not always. If you later try to claim an aspect that was not supported in your first filing, then you lost the race.

I think you get the picture. Cutting corners on a provisional application is penny wise and pound foolish. But you might not realize the damage until years after it’s too late.

Remember, not all provisionals are created equal. Be careful how you tread in the tricky world of IP!