Although, notinitself, enough tomonopoliseaninvention a provisionalapplicationwillprovide an applicant with an allimportantprioritydateandpatentpendingnumber.
In part for this reason, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is likely to see increased numbers of provisional applications, which if done properly can be a cost-effective way to obtain an early priority date for a patentapplication.