Can You “Extend” a Provisional Patent Application?

Unfortunately, you cannot legally “extend” a provisional patent application. A provisional patent application will automatically be abandoned 12-months after the provisional patent application filing date.  In 2010, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented a 12-month pilot program titled Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program (EMPPP) but this pilot program by the USPTO expired in 2019 and is no longer available.  An inventor can consider refiling a provisional patent application, but there are significant risks/problems involved with refiling a provisional application that need to be consulted with a patent attorney about before doing so because you lose your original provisional application filing date.