[sdiy] Patents

[Phil Harbison]

Fredrick C. writes:
> Has anyone here ever patented anything? Was it worth the money/effort?
> I was thinking the next best thing is to publish (as in on this list),
> so that no-one else can patent an idea you have. That way you don't get
> sued for using your own ideas. What do you think?

If you want to establish a record of prior work for a possible
future patent battle:

[1] Record your work in an engineering notebook with sewn binding
   and numbered pages. If you can't find an engineering notebook,
   an accountants ledger will do (it just doesn't have graph paper).

[2] From time to time, have another engineer review your journal
   and write "Read and understood, [name] [date]" in the journal.

[3] From time to time, have your notebook notarized.

This was our practice at 3M and they had a legion of patent lawyers
giving us advice.