When do I officially get the patent pending status?
"Patent pending" isn't an official status at all. Neither the patent office nor the courts recognize a "patent pending" status. However, the patent rules to specifically note that the use of the term "patent pending" is not illegal, so a product can be marked "patent pending" without running afoul of any regulations.
Would this be the postmark date of the application or do I have to wait for a number? I am applying for a Provisional Patent on a Utility Patent.
The date doesn't matter, since the "status" is not an official status. You can mark it pending whenever you want.
Also, when you get the "patent pending" status, can you start protecting your product from copying? Or do you have to wait for the actual patent?
You have to wait until you get the patent. "Patent pending" is essentially meaningless, and it provides no protections. You cannot protect your idea until the patent is granted. If you think about it, it makes sense. Until the patent issues, the "scope" of the patent is unkown -- basically, until the claims are allowed, you can't even be sure someone else is infringing on your patent. It wouldn't be fair to allow a patent applicant to enforce his patent against someone during the application stage, only to find that once the patent issued, the invention was considerably narrowed and the original "copier" wasn't even infringing. That's why you have to wait.
Further, you mentioned that you are applying for a "provisional" patent. A provisional patent application contains even less information than does a regular (nonprovisional) application, and it would be even MORE unfair to allow someone to enforce a provisional application. A provisional only exists to establish the date of invention, or "priority" date. If a provisional isn't converted into a nonprovisional within a year (or subject to some other continuation acitivity), it becomes abandoned anyway.
