A little lesson from history

Alexander Graham Bell arguably got the greatest patent of all time when he patented the telephone. You know yourself that telephones are everywhere because communicating with loved ones is our most important desire and the telephone helps us do that. Maybe you didn't know, though, that there was a court battle over rights to the patent. Elisha Gray also invented the telephone at the same time Bell did. Gray lost a bitterly contested court battle ultimately because Bell had better records and could prove he was first. There was something called a patent caveat that could be filed (no longer in use) that allowed someone to prevent someone else from filing first for a period of 90 days. Gray tried to use that but Bell's records were so much better, he lost anyway. Today, the provisional patent functions in a similar way to the caveat but it allows you a full year to get your act together and you can use, "Patent Pending" on your gizmo right away. PLUS, you are protected when negotiating a royalty agreement with someone with the resources to proceed to full patent protection. Right now, each provisional patent application costs $125 and you can prove when you had the idea. Cheap.