Hi Paul,

The filing fee for a provisional application is $100 for a small entitity. But you should be very careful when filing a provisional application. Many people think its a cheap and easy way to get a patent... its not. As a patent attorney, I almost never recommend filing a provisional application. The only ones who really benefit from a provisional filing are inventors whose invention will be more valuable at the END of the patent term -- 20 years from now -- than at the beginning of the term (usually pharmaceutical inventors) The provisional applcation is not reviewed by the patent office, so every day you wait before filing your original (non-provisional) application delays the issueance of your patent...

When you file your provisional application, you'll want to make sure you have all the disclosure in the application that you will need to support the claims you will file in your original application... if you don't then you won't get the benefit of the provisional applications filing date. Thus, it takes just as long to prepare the provisional application as it does an original application. If you've paid your attorney $8000 to draft the application or spent the 50 or so hours you would probably need to draft it yourself, what's an extra couple of hundred dollars to file it as an original application? If your invention is that good, you will want to begin excluding others from manufacturing your invention as soon as possible.

Since I am an attorney I need to include the fine print:
(The information provided herein is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues. The information provided is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or current. I make no warranty, expressed or implied, about the accuracy or reliability of the information provided (although I'm usually right). You should not use this information as a substitute for retaining competent legal counsel (I usually research things better when I'm getting paid).
Furthermore, this communication is not intended to create any legal relationship between you or any user thereof and me.

Thanks Rick! I appreciate your expertise. Jeremy did say something that does seem pertinent to my situation.

"The only other time I would suggest a provisional filing is if there is an impending risk of someone coming out with the same invention and you feel you need to get what amounts to a time stamp from the patent office."

As a software author, I can develop concept products in a month or two. I need to be able to release these software systems to potential clients, customers or maybe even investors, without having to worry that some else will see my concept and say, "lets do that too."

This is why the patent pending label appeals to me so. It tells potential competitors that their efforts may be in vein.

If I released the product without the provisional patent, then it would be my responsibility to create some other set of legally reliable proof-of-creator-ship-records.

As for the the complexity of provisional patents as opposed to full application, this makes sense. But I still like the disclosure process, for while I am confident that I can conceptualize what rights I am seeking as a patent holder, and be able to disclose this clearly in full detail, there is a whole set of other procedures, language and etiquette that only patent attorneys are versed in, which is necessary when filing, for a patent to be approved.

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about a single idea. I have MANY of these software concepts. Also when released under a provisional patent, the one year leeway, would also allow me some time to determine whether or not the concept was worth filing the full application for.

For instance, take the priceline.com example. They received the patent for the reverse merchandising method, where customers entered an order for what they were willing to pay and airlines would sell at that discounted price as was available.

My ideas are similarly this simple. Am I wrong to think that I could describe in detail the priceline.com concept, or some similarly simple concept, with a single flowchart and one page of narrative?

Dalm said, "The other thing I have seen is the patent describes X and Y but only claims X."

Thus, you may make more than one claim! Of course for a patent to be effective, the claims should be kept to a minimum and cover only the critical aspects of operation. In this way, if only the critical aspects are covered, then it becomes difficult or hopefully impossible to file a similar patent without infringing on the original claims.