Does The "Poor Man's Patent" Really Work To Protect Your Idea Or Invention?

You've probably heard of "The Poor Man's Patent." The idea or logic behind a poor man's patent is that when you come up with an invention you write down your invention as well as include drawings and/or pictures of your invention along with the name and other relevant info.

You then put this into an envelope and mail it to yourself. When you receive it you leave it sealed and if you ever need to protect your idea you could then open it showing the postage stamped date on the envelope.



Why do people do think? Well a patent costs a lot of money, if you use a lawyer and get someone to sketch up professional drawings your looking at something into the thousands of dollars. You could attempt to do it yourself through sites like Legal Zoom however without having things professionally put together chances are you won't be sufficiently protected or your patent may not even be valid. And even Legal Zoom and similar sites, it's not cheap getting a patent.

The idea behind a poor mans patent ie the mailing method you can essentially protect your idea for the price of a stamp.

So does the poor mans patent really protect your idea? I have heard that this is a myth and the poor mans patent method protects nothing. If anyone knows a definitive answer to this please leave a comment or shoot us an e-mail if you'd like to write a post explaining the correct answer to this.

I have a few thoughts however on how the poor mans patent may actually protect your idea. In the US if you have an idea you have to practice "due diligence" in protecting your idea and due diligence is considered getting a patent so though I have no definitive answer I'm thinking if you do the poor mans patent you are not getting a legally registered patent and or trade mark so you are not practicing due diligence.

Another factor however in that in the US what determines priority is not who was the first to register but who was the first to INVENT the idea. If we follow this logic though a poor mans patent can's help protect your invention it can help prove the date of invention so I suppose if you bring your idea to a lawyer or factory, or someone to do CAD drawings and they attempted to steal your idea a poor mans patent could prove the date of inception of the invention.

To play devils advocate would this hold up in court as any type of evidence? All sending a letter to yourself really proves is that you sent a letter to yourself, it does not prove what is in the envelope. Someone could tamper with an envelope. Someone could send a Manila envelope with the metal clasp sealed but not licked and sealed. Upon receiving their own envelope they could then lick and seal the envelope and they would have a sealed envelope with a post date. Because of this maybe this isn't sufficient evidence.

Before actually applying to the Patent and Trademark Office there are several important preliminary steps that should be followed to prevent possible loss or damage to future patent rights. One of the most important of these preliminary steps is proper record keeping. Since United States patents are granted to the first inventor, it may become necessary to prove when the invention was made.

This is best accomplished by making a complete record of the invention from the first idea right up through development of commercial products. The invention record should clearly describe the invention with words and pictures (photographs, sketches, drawings, etc.) and should explain fully how it operates or is used.

Each page of invention record should be signed and dated in ink by the inventor. The record should also be reviewed as it is made by at least one other trustworthy person who is capable of understanding the invention.

One other thought. If any of you inventors out there are also bloggers here's an idea for you. Do you think blogging your invention, plans, drawings, pictures, etc offers any protection. Blogging offers a time stamp and though things can be edited it shows up as edited so in essence posting your invention on your blog could potentially offer you some proof of invention date or protection in some way?


If you have definitive answers to whether "the poor mans patent" is even worth the 44 cent stamp or if it's completely worthless in court. Also, if you have any idea as to whether blogging inventions offers any protection please feel free to chime in on that as well, we'd love to hear your thoughts.