No link to referenced provisonal in Public Pair database: Does the provisional not exist?

Question

I'm used to being able to look up referenced provisionals in the Public Pair database by clicking on the link over their application number under the "Continuity Data" tab.

However, I've come across one case in which the provisional that was referenced in a published non-provisional (already published for over one year) does not have a link associated with it. Also, searching for the referenced application number directly does not find anything.

Is it possible that the applicant referenced a provisional that does not actually exist, or that did not get filed properly? Another possibility would maybe be a typo in reproducing the number in the non-provisional application.

In any case, does that mean that the non-provisional will not have the benefit of said provisional?

Answer 1

You can look up the provisional application by its application number in Public PAIR and verify that it exists. Since that also doesn't find it according to your comment It might be a typo in the non-provisional. If the application gets a rejection based on a reference published before the non-provisional was filed and the applicant wants to disqualify the reference, they will need to try to straighten it out. There is a deadline to perfect a priority claim, I think it is 16 months from the date of the provisional or 4 months from the filing of the non-provisional. If that has past the applicant might still end up with the benefit if it was something like a typo.