Can I get a provisional patent in Europe?

Hi! In addition to Steven developments and to answer your question regarding the existence of a potential system equivalent to the US Provisional Application system, I would say that this concept does not exist, strictly speaking, in Europe but in practice it is quite possible in some European countries to temporarily make a quick filing in a hurry then to regulate it – or not – in the following year. In France in particular, the law provides that the filing of a French patent application exists as soon as the applicant produce, in particular, a description of its invention or a reference to a previously patent application, without any required formalism. This means concretely that it is quite possible to file a "standard" technical text in order to qualify for patent protection and then complete the said text by a patent in good standing.

As the content of the description is not - yet - regulated, it is possible to file directly without any formalism, a scientific article, a medical study, a thesis statement, a technical book, the extracts of laboratory notebooks or a proposal under a provisional filing.

Simply, the main difficulty appears when the conversion of the provisional application in a regular one. Therefore, you have to adequately describe the technical characteristics of the invention and to reproduce at least one major claim in the text of the provisional application even though it is not required by the law. This is the work of the patent engineer (patent attorney).

If you file your patent application from Germany, you need to consult a German patent attorney starting with those IP Nexus who are very competent. I am of course available to provide you all information that the foregoing and assist you particularly in France.

Simon