Patents are designed to give you exclusive intellectual property rights over your patented invention for a long period of time, thus preventing competitors from stealing your product and making profit off of it.

Typically a patent will last 20 years from the date you file for a patent in the case of plant and utility patents and 14 years from the date you file for a patent in the case of design patents (see ‘Choosing the right kind of patent protection’). As utility patent applications are by far the most common, your invention will likely receive patent protection for 20 years.

If you are filing a provisional patent, your patent protection will last only 12 months. This is a good option if you would like more time to pursue full patent rights or you want to test the commercial waters to see if it will be profitable to patent your invention. Note that you also receive limited invention protection (i.e. “patent pending”) while pursuing full patent rights, so you are secured against patent infringement during the patent process.