ME Prof' Blessing Request

Hi, GearHead!

First, a great big WELCOME to CR4. Lots of folks in here share your interest area. Hope you enjoy yourself hugely exploring all there is to peak your interests in here.

As far as your tranny is concerned, it might be something that would interest a blogger named Blink. You can send an internal email to him via CR4.

All the best in your quest,

Mark

Rather than the sealed envelope mailed to yourself, the US Patent & Trademark Office allows inventors to submit their ideas (I forget what the exact wording is) and they remain sealed for two years. They are not published and are not opened for the public to view, but can show that you came up with the idea first, if a patent dispute ever comes up. Then, before the two years runs out, you can submit a provisional patent, which can be filed for $50 currently. That is good for one year, and allows you time to explore whether it is a marketable idea. You can legally publish it and market it as "patent pending" as soon as the provisional patent submittal is received by the patent office. Before that one year runs out, you will need to file a non-provisional patent (a regular patent), preferably through a reputable patent attorney. The USPTO maintains a list of registered patent attorneys. They also have a blog on patent scams, which includes many of the ones advertised on TV. You can find lots of info at www.uspto.gov. If you publish details of your idea, or offer it for sale, before submitting a provisional or regular patent, you have one year to submit the patent application, or you can lose the right to ever patent it. If you publish it or offer it for sale before submitting for a provisional or regular patent, you may lose the right to patent it in foreign countries.

Good luck!

Thank you, good to know.