Provisional Patent Application Since June 8, 1995, the PTO has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional application for a patent. The provisional patent is designed to provide a lower-cost first-patent filing in the United States and to give a U.S. patent applicantion parity with foreign applicants. The claims and oath or declaration are not required for a provisional patent application. The provisional patent application provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a patent application and permits the term "Patent Pending" to be applied in connection with the invention. A Provisional patent application may not be filed for ornamental designs. The provisional patent application has a one-year pendency at which time it must be converted to a utility patent application or go abandoned.