Publish your patent or we may all possibly perish.

[Gregory GOrDon]

President Obama should in my opinion and as he has alluded to in some of his speeches make an executive decision to streamline the process of obtaining and maintaing patents in this country and at the same time set an example for the rest of the world. It is a shame that many ideas that could help in this time of severe economic crises go undeveloped due either to fear of someone else stealing a persons idea or for lack of the 10,000 to 50,000 dollars that it costs just for simple patent protection not to mention the basic cost of getting items to market. But unless and until the first hurdle is crossed most ideas never get out of a persons head let alone onto paper. Let me help you cross the first hurdle.

Has anyone else thought of this idea before? Maybe, maybe not. But you'll never know until you test the idea in the marketplace. In my opinion and it certainly has been my experience that if I haven't seen it and it is a really great idea, then one of a couple things is most likely to be the case. Either the idea is new or it is undeveloped. And there in lays your chance to get it to market.

If you are afraid of someone stealing it and have resources the best course of action in my opinion is to publish the idea publicly immediately. Most people won't tell you this. They insist on the "poor man's patent" route which I'll cover in a moment. But, if you have unlimited resources or if the idea is really great by publishing it immediately you buy yourself a few things at a price that is unbeatable.

First, you get a time and date stamp that is undeniable. No one can, even if they think of the idea independently a day later, claim that they thought of it first. And you buy a full year from date of first public publication to file your patent claim. And now that I think about it you can test the idea for free. If it is a must have and most things are not then someone will with a bit of work on your part most likely fund the development for you. If it is just another get rich quick scheme and someone sees how they too can get rich they may also fund it for you. Thirdly if it is a good idea that needs work or that can not be funded you will get the credit and good credit is unbeatable in this economy. ??? Not the type of credit you want? Wait, I'll explain.

Suppose for example you are as am I constantly thinking of better and easier ways to do things, to use a baseball analogy,ometimes you will hit singles, doubles or triples and if you are one of the greats hit a good number of homeruns. But as is the case with most things those who succeed to the highest levels also make the most errors. Babe Ruth once held the record for most homeruns and most strikeouts. Likewise Thomas Alva Edison inventor of the light bulb made failed to succeed in his invention hundreds of times. When asked about all of his hundreds of errors, his responce was, (and I paraphrase) "At least I know hundreds of ways that won't work."

So too you. My advice and it is not legal advice but practical and religious advice, follow Jesus, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Give it away. At least publish it. As they say in the political arena, "float a trial balloon." See if it flys. If it does, you're in the money immediately. If it does not, and you do not have the money to test it by conventional methods, at the very least the world will benefit from your idea. Even if someone should come along and steal the idea, if it is published they won't profit anymore than anyone else can as the idea will then be in the public domain.

The benefit of that is that perhaps it was not the idea but it's implementation plan. To the extent then that someone else knows what to do with it we all benefit. Since the idea will be in the open marketplace and you created the idea you too will be able to adapt the marketing strategy of those who followed. Then the situation will be win-win-win.

As for the poor man's patent. Go to your the post office in your zip code and ask for instructions, and as in most things a hybrid version of the two maybe in order. Do both, get a poor man's patent and then publish. You'll thank yourself and the world will thank you.