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ITI,
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The beginning the patent process. The "Provisional Patent Application" is a new (about a year old) procedure that the US PATENT office has implemented. The intent is to place in a file (at the patent office) the information necessary for submitting a patent application. It serves the same purpose as making copies of documents, and mailing them to yourself via certified mail; that is, it establishes priority. Supposedly, this will survive a court challenge in the event that someone has the same idea and there is need to determine which party not only had the idea but reduced it to practice first. There are several potential problems with this procedure (patent lawyers like it because, they like the camel, get their head into the tent which is just a prelude to having the whole beast inside). First, if you rush to submit, then you need to resubmit every time you get a further idea along the same line (as example if you decided that polyethylene would be better than polystyrene as a plastic material for your invention.) Each time you file, (resubmit if you like) you get to pay the patent office an additional $75. (Not bad business for them since all they have to do is put the stuff in a box without looking at it, send you an acceptance letter and cash your check.) There is no patent protection either guaranteed or implied. This is just a record keeping method. You must apply for a patent within one year or the stuff is abandoned. So unless the invention you have is on the way to market, it's unlikely that you will have gained much of an advantage. You really need a patent attorney's or patent agent's advice on what to include if you are going to follow this route. (A friend of mine, an attorney, says file early and file often. Of course he likes to see the monthly cash coming his way as well.) *** On the plus side, if you are going to talk to a manufacturer or potential license candidate, it shows that you are actively pursuing a patent. Many inventors fear that big business is going to steal their idea. This provides a reassurance (maybe?). It encourages you to talk to a patent agent or attorney which may avoid last minute decisions and costly mistakes. *** From my own personal point of view. I don't use the system. Better to get your ducks in a row and make the single filing to the office of a patent application. Since small inventor status (people like you and me) cost half what businesses pay, the cost is typically three to four hundred dollars for the filing. You will pay a lot more than that to the PA, unless you go it on your own (the US PATENT office wont say, but they definitely prefer that you not do it yourself). For one reason, they use a vocabulary that is foreign to most of us. (You become a pro se, or something like that). And lastly, when you have an idea, it's an invention. When you pursue it you are reducing it to practice. When you stop working on it, it's abandoned. There is nothing wrong with not getting a patent. Most are just for show anyway. Having a patent prevents others from practicing your invention for some 20 years. That's not to say that they can't find another way of doing the same thing or doing it better. Most products in the consumer market are not patented. Business has decided that it's better to go ahead and get the product sold, and fight it out in the marketplace. That's my two bits worth. ABOUT Joe Wortham