Filing Provisional Patent Applications With or Without Claims

The IP Counsel Blog discusses whether provisional patent applications should include claims:

In Claims in Provisionals, Russ [Krajec] advocates that provisional patent applications should be filed without claims. Russ' reasoning is that provisional applications filed with claims can only have a negative effect in view of prosecution history estoppel. . . .

I feel that it is prudent to include the broadest claims in the original application. If the validity of the patent is ever attacked, there is a record of the broadest claim in the application with the earliest filing date or priority date. At the risk of establishing a record for prosecution history estoppel, it is necessary to preserve a record for claim interpretation and to satisfy written description requirements.

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