Richard,

my experience tells me that the provisional filing will buy you an additional
twelve months at minimal cost.
by the end of the twelve months you will have the opportunity to more fully
develop the technology, find a partner to fund additional research, pay the
filing costs should you decide to file a utility application or foreign
filings (which are expensive), which will entail making claims in the
application.
the provisional is probably a good alternative to take at this point, it will
at least protect the technology in an early stage

Tom

Richard Moore wrote:

> This may be the wrong listserve for this question, but any advice,
> reccomendations, or comments would be appreciated.
>
> One of our faculty has developed what he considers to be a
> potentially patentable process.  RCT has reviewed his disclosure
> information and has decided not to pursue a patent due to its
> limited commercialization potential.
>
> The faculty member's brother, who is a patent attorney has advised
> him to try and register a "provisional patent application"  while he
> (and the university) looks into other routes for getting a "full" patent.
>
> I am not familiar with this provisonal application. Apparently it only
> costs $75, but I am not sure what sort of protections it provides to
> either the institution or the inventor.
>
> Richard
>
>                         Dr. Richard H. Moore
>     Assistant Vice President for Grants and Sponsored Research
> Coastal Carolina University           Internet: xxxxxx@coastal.edu
> P.O. Box 261954                          Voice: 843-349-2050
> Conway SC 29528-6054                       FAX: 843-349-2726
>
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