People are always looking for inexpensive ways to protect their inventions. One of the myths surrounding patenting is the idea of a "poor man's patent." Although it seems like a good idea, the poor man's patent does not hold much legal weight.

Identification

The idea behind the poor man's patent is that you could mail an invention to yourself and have the postmark prove that you conceived the invention at a certain time, according to patent attorney Gene Quinn.

Misconceptions

Unfortunately, a poor man's patent does not actually grant a person any patent rights. Holding mail with a postmark simply shows you had the object or schematic on a certain date, not that you developed it. Nothing can replace a real patent application, according to Kirk Teska of the IEEE Engineering Society.

Function

According to Quinn, the poor man's patent intends to allow people to trademark and copyright an idea cheaply; a real patent application can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Warning

Sending an invention or details to yourself can actually work against you, reports Quinn. Letting a mailed invention sit because you assume the postmark gives you a patent can become grounds for hiding the invention or abandoning it, which can remove all rights to a real patent.

Considerations

Provisional patents are cheaper and allow you to reveal details about the invention while still holding patent rights, reports Teska. However, these do not save much money overall, and filling out an incorrect provisional patent application can degrade some rights to the idea.

Source:

Gene Quinn: Protecting Ideas

Kirk Teska: The Poor Man's Patent

Cost of Obtaining a Patent