Invent Something

The first thing to do once you Patent Attorney in Los Angeles is to go get a brand new lab notebook. It doesn't have to be expensive. $3 sounds about right. Then you should go ahead and put your name, date, and title of the invention on either the cover of the book or on the inside cover of the book. Afterwards, you need to go ahead and write down what your invention is, what it's made of, what parts you need to make it, and how they piece together. Now let's say that you invented the world's first mousetrap. Your lab notebook would say something like:

"I just invented the world's first mousetrap. (OK, you don't actually have to write this down word for word, I'm just riffing here). This mousetrap is made of a small rectangular wooden block. This block is only about 5 mm thick, 3 inches wide and 5 inches long. There's also a spring, a guillotine, and a piece of cheese. The guillotine is hooked to the spring so that when a mouse takes the bait..."WHAM! THAT BAD BOY'S DEAD!"

"I invented this mousetrap because my irresponsible daughter left the screen door open while she was playing with her dog. When she left the door open, a herd of mice invaded our home. That's when I decided to invent this mouse trap"

"I invented this mousetrap today, Monday January 1, 2010 at around 3:22 PM. Joe Inventor (signature)."

You would then continue to make additional journal entries into your lab notebook as you come up with even better ideas on how to improve your invention. Example:

"January 5, 2010. I just figured out that mice actually like peanut butter more than cheese. So I went ahead and made a cheese pad made of a small metal spoon attached to the guillotine which is attached to the spring..."

*********THIS IS IMPORTANT****************
Making this lab notebook WILL NOT, I REPEAT WILL NOT GIVE YOU ANY PATENT RIGHTS, LEGAL RIGHTS, OR ANY SORT OF PROTECTION WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!!

So what is the point of making this lab notebook?

Let's say that you invented and created this mousetrap today January 1, 2010. And let's say that it took you six months to get enough money to get a patent attorney and have your attorney draft up a patent application. Meanwhile, Jimmy Tucan, in Miami, Florida invented the same mousetrap 3,000 miles away from you in Seattle, Washington. Only Jimmy invented his invention in March and he filed his patent application in April. So now it is August 2010 and the USPTO sees these two identical patent applications and they first say that Jimmy should get priority over you and that you will have to abandon your patent application. Well, your lab notebook can provide you the proof you need to claim priority even though Jimmy beat you to the USPTO.

*********NOTE***************
Bear in mind that you only have 12 months from the day you invent your gizmo to file a patent application with the USPTO. If you do not file within 12 months you will lose any patent rights you have to that invention.

Moreover, that lab notebook can provide even more help for you in the event that an Examiner with the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) cites prior art which may predate your original filing date, but which comes after your first lab notebook entry.

Of course, this practice of building up a lab notebook does not often come up, but it does happen. Perhaps a more important reason to keep a detailed journal of your invention is to reinforce the idea that the invention process is continually evolving and that it is a process that charts about a timeline. It also forces you to put your ideas on paper so that you can actually visualize your invention in a more detached and analytical manner.

After you are finished with making your lab notebook, you should then proceed to do your own initial patent search. First go to Google Patents www.google.com/patents. And then you should go to the USPTO Patent database at patft.uspto.gov. If those initial results do not unearth any problems, then you'd be advised to go ahead and set up a consultation with an experienced and licensed USPTO Patent Attorney.