Patent It Yourself - PDF Archive

ChAPtER 3 | DOCUMENTATION AND THE PPA | 45
Inventor’s Commandment 3
After conceiving of an invention, you shouldn’t
proceed to develop, build, or test it, or reveal it to
outsiders, until you (1) make a clear description of your
conception on paper (using ink or typing), (2) sign and
date the same, and (3) have this document signed and
dated by two trustworthy people who have “Witnessed
and understood” your creation.
Inventor’s Commandment 4
(1) Try to build and test your invention (if at all
possible) as soon as you can, (2) keep full and true
written, signed, and dated records of all the efforts,
correspondence, and receipts concerning your
invention, especially if you build and test it, and (3) have
two others sign and date that they have “Witnessed
and understood” your building and testing. (As an
alternative—or in addition—to documenting, building,
and testing in this manner, you can use the PTO’s
Provisional Patent Application program, but be aware
of the disadvantages and limitations of the PPA.)
A. Introduction
It’s true in life generally that the better the documentation
you keep, the easier it will be for you to retrieve important
ideas, information, and, when necessary, proof that
some thing happened. When it comes to inventing, good
documentation is even more vital than in most other aspects
of our lives. There are two distinct and important reasons
why all inventors should document all of their work. The
first has to do with the inventing process itself. The second
involves the possibility that you will need to prove (1) that
you are the inventor, and (2) when you made the invention
or that you came up with the invention first. Let’s examine
these reasons in order.
RESOURCE
To help you properly document your invention,
Nolo publishes The Inventor’s Notebook: A Patent It Yourself
Companion.
B. Documentation Is Vital to
the Invention Process
It takes more than a good idea to sustain the invention
process. It is absolutely essential to keep good, sound, and
complete records, for two sets of reasons, the invention
process (explained below) and to prove inventorship
(explained in Section C).
1. Good Engineering Practice
It’s good engineering practice to keep a “technical diary,”
containing accurate, detailed documents of your ideas,
work done, and accomplishments. Good engineers and
technicians record their developments in chronological
order so that they can refer back to their engineering diary
at any time—days, weeks, months, or even years later. First,
this enables them to avoid running up the same blind alley
twice. Second, good records will shed light on subsequent
developments, will allow the inventor to find needed data
and details of past developments, and will provide a base for
new paths of exploration and ramifications, especially if
failures have occurred.
2. Psychological Stimulus
Many of us come up with great ideas, especially when
we’re engaged in some other activity (including dreaming),
and we forget to write them down. Later, we may recall
that we had a brilliant idea the night before, or during the
office party, but because we went back to sleep or were too
busy, we forgot it. If we could get into the habit of writing
down our thoughts on a piece of paper, later on we’d find
that piece of paper there to bug us, almost forcing us to do
something about it. So, keep a small pencil or pen and some
paper with you at all times, even by your bedside, and in
your wallet, and write down your thoughts as soon as they
occur. Later on, you’ll be glad you did.
3. Analyzation Stimulus
WWII Admiral Raborn once said, “If you can’t write it
down, you don’t really know what you are doing.”
Have you ever had an idea, plan, or concept that you
really didn’t fully understand yourself? I’ll bet you discovered
that when you tried to write a description of it, you were
forced to figure it out, and only then finally realized fully
or exactly what you had. Putting a description of your idea
in writing forces you to think about it and crystallize it into
communicable form. Note that no matter how great your