Step One: Document your idea ASAP, preferably in an “Inventor’s Notebook”. I like to recommend that inventors use a bound “composition notebook” that you can find at any office supply store. These bound notebooks typically have 100 sheets. Take a pen and number every page consecutively. Then use the notebook to jot down your ideas, sketches, etc. Put the date on the pages after you write / sketch your invention. Sign your name on the invention page(s). Then, along with your signature, write the word “Witness:” and have someone sign in that spot. I can’t stress enough the importance of documenting your ideas in this fashion.   (For additional information, read my post here entitled “A low-cost way to create an Inventor’s Notebook.”)

Step Two: Build and test your invention. This essentially establishes a date stamp that is critical if you and someone create the invention around the same time; all things being equal, the U.S. Patent Office will award the patent to the person who built and tested the invention first (called, in patent lingo, the person who first “reduced it to practice”).

– Eric