Patents are costly but there’s an ingenious way to protect an invention for pin money. Illusionary principles often make valuable commercial and advertising devices. Magicians have many ideas worth protection. A patent gives no more. Why spend hundreds of dollars for one that may not sell? Concentrate upon the following “patent” process.
On the left-hand half of the sheet make a drawing or sketch of your idea. On the opposite half write or type a description. Date it. Fold face-to-face and paste the edges together. Now both sketch and description are known to you alone.
Have a notary attest that on this date you signed this paper, contents unknown. Sign on outside of the folded sheet, his seal naturally going through both thicknesses. This costs 25 cents. Now comes your “evidence of conception”.
Go to the County Clerk’s office. Ask for a certificate of notary. This is the County Clerk’s guarantee that the notary who witnessed your signature is an authorized notary in good standing. It costs another 25 cents. Paste this on top of the sheet containing your signature. This endorsement is known as a prothonotary certificate.
Fold your sheet and place it in an envelope. Seal the envelope and put your signature, in ink, across the flap. Then past a one-cent stamp over the middle of your signature. Finally send it registered to yourself.
Have the stamp on the back cancelled. The law requires the post office to cancel every stamp on an envelope. The cancellation of that stamp over your signature shows you have not opened the envelope at a later date. Postage outlay, eighteen cents, total cost sixty-eight cents, for complete protection. When and if you interest someone, apply for a patent in the regular way, but with his money.
Meanwhile, you can show your idea with perfect safety. Should anyone attempt to steal it, just bring your evidence into court. Have it opened there and prove your prior ownership. Uncle Sam has sealed and dated your evidence.
BUT DON’T GO SLEEP ON IT. The law provides that if an inventor’s idea becomes public and is used or sold for more than TWO years prior to the application for a patent, the inventor’s right to a patent is gone.
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