A non-provisional patent application is a term referring to a United States

United States patent law

United States patent law was established "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" as provided by the United States Constitution. Congress implemented these...

 patent application

Patent application

A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...

 that is not a provisional application

Provisional application

Under United States patent law, a provisional application for patent is a legal document filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office , that establishes an early filing date, but which does not mature into an issued patent unless the applicant files a regular patent application within one...

. The term arose in 1995 to distinguish what were at the time "normal" patent applications from the newly established provisional applications. A complete non-provisional application differs from a provisional in that a non-provisional must contain at least one claim and is to be examined. A non-provisional application may also claim priority to a prior filed application, which is not permitted with provisional applications.