

Ask HN: Provisional Patent - EGreg

Hey guys. Lately I've been working hard on my distributed social network, and I've come up with a bunch of solutions along the way that don't seem to have been done by anybody.<p>I want to submit provisional patents for them. I've already submitted the first one in may.<p>Do you have any advice for someone writing a provisional patent? What should I make sure to put in it, so I can later engage with facebook, google and the like, and confidently be able to talk about the technology -- knowing that they will need to license my patent instead of just implementing it?<p>I'm not a big fan of 17-year software patents, but I'll admit that this protection is a very attractive option for the next year or two. I have really invented some cool stuff and I will have about 4 provisional patents on it. I'm going to be implementing it myself in my sites -- so I'm not just patent trolling :) I'm pretty sure facebook and google would love to implement it, but I think them being huge companies I'd like to get something from them.<p>So I'm looking for advice on what should go into my provisional patent, and maybe your opinions on whether I should "feel bad" for patenting my inventions... trust me, they are going to improve the internet for a lot of people, but at the same time I do want to make money from this and have some protection from google and facebook just copying it themselves.
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drallison
There is a one year clock on a provisional patent after which you must have
filed for a normal patent.

The material you file for a provisional patent needs to fully disclose your
invention and provide "support" for any claims that you make or will make. You
do not need to file claims with a provisional patent. You may find that
writing claims will help you determine whether you have fully disclosed your
invention and identified all the limitations.

You should do a prior art search before filing the provisional so that you
understand where your invention falls in the sea of other patented inventions.
No sense trying to patent an "invention" which is not patentable over the
prior art.

You can cut costs by doing the paperwork yourself, but before you file it is
usually worthwhile to have the materials looked over by a patent attorney. I
am not a patent attorney but I have had some experience with patents.

