6. Patent Priority and Provisional Applications for Patent
Under U.S patent law, the "first-to-invent" gets the patent rights. However,
this only applies if you can prove you were the first person to come up with an
idea.
Some people believe mailing yourself a letter with your invention notes can prove
your conception date for the Patent Office. This is not true. Instead, you should
keep a detailed log book which describes the activities you took to create and test
the invention. Each entry should be signed, dated and witnessed by others. In addition,
each participant and his or her role should be noted.
Even with a log book, it is often difficult to prove you came up with an invention
before someone else. That's why the first person to file a patent application is
almost always deemed to be the first to invent. This is also why provisional patents
have become so popular. They establish an official filing date that the invention
was first "reduced to practice."
Back in 1876, two people independently came up with an invention that could carry
speech electronically over a wire - the telephone. Both men rushed their designs
to the patent office. Alexander Graham Bell beat the other man by only two hours.
Bell eventually won a long legal battle and was awarded the patent for the telephone,
which eventually became known as "the most valuable patent." Do you know the name
of the man who came in second?
