What is Patent Filing Dates

A filing date is the date on which a patent application is received by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Filing dates are significant in patent law because they are frequently used to determine who invented something first and thus has patent rights to it. The famous story goes that Alexander Graham Bell rushed to the patent office in 1876 to beat Thomas Edison to the patent for the telephone.

Filing dates also determine when your patent rights start. If the USPTO grants your patent application, you will have patent rights beginning on the date of filing, not when the application is granted.

A provisional patent application can save you a filing date quickly and cheaply before you file a full non-provisional patent. You have 12 months to file a non-provisional patent application if you file a provisional patent application on January 1, 2000. You could claim the priority date of your provisional application if you file the non-provisional on December 31, 2000.

 If your patent application is approved and you are granted a patent, you will have patent rights to your invention for 20 years from the provisional filing date to the non-provisional filing date.