The objective associated with the creation of this provisional application, as presented by the advocates of this measure, is to facilitate access to intellectual property, in particular by SMEs, start-ups and researchers. With a reduced cost (only a filing fee) and requiring a minimum of formalities (a simple description will suffice), this provisional application aims to quickly set a date in terms of priority.
The payment of the other fees (the search fee, and possible additional claim fee beyond the 10th), as well as the filing of the claims and of an abstract, although deferred to 12 months from the filing of the provisional application, remains imperatives to regularize this application.
Failing to regularize the provisional application, either as a patent application or as a utility model, will result in the withdrawal of the application.
The measures relating to this application came into force on July 1, 2020.
One can however wonder about the relevance of such a “provisional” application in view of the already existing provisions in French law (cf. “La demande provisoire de brevet : un nouvel outil inutile et pernicieux”, Revue Propriété IndustrielIe, 2020, 3 : p. 34).
