If you've filed paperwork on your invention and started telling people it's patented, it's worth checking what you actually filed. Patent pending and patented are not the same thing, and the difference matters the moment someone asks to see your patent.On this episode of P Words, Jessica O. Matthews breaks down the two types of patent applications and what each one actually does. She starts with why patents exist at all and how the US moved to a first-to-file system, where the filing date decides who gets the claim, not the invention date. From there, she explains the provisional application as a way to hold that date for 12 months while you research and build. The non-provisional is the filing that gets examined and, if granted, becomes an enforceable patent. File early, then do the work that turns a claim into the real thing.

CHAPTERS
(00:00) Introduction
(00:36) The two types of patents
(01:02) The textbook definitions
(01:48) Why patents exist
(02:36) The first-to-file system
(03:07) Why a provisional isn't a patent
(04:18) Staking your claim with a provisional
(05:08) The 12-month window
(06:14) The non-provisional and what to file first
(07:17) Why a provisional still matters

Topics covered:

• The difference between a provisional and a non-provisional patent application
• How the first-to-file system decides who gets the claim to an invention
• What a provisional needs and what the 12-month window is for

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