THE INVENTOR'S JOURNAL
The journal is the best protection you can have for your invention prior to obtaining a U.S. Patent. The journal should be a stitch bound, ruled notebook preferably with numbered pages and with a place for your own signature and that of your witnesses at the bottom of each page. All entries should be signed, witnessed and dated. An inventor's journal may be obtained/ordered from most booksellers. The inventor's journal may also be know as an "Engineer's Notebook" or an "Inventor's Notebook". The information below will assist you in understanding the role of the journal in the idea protection process, and the importance of a properly kept journal.
A PROPERLY KEPT JOURNAL IS AN INVENTOR'S BEST PROTECTION SHORT OF AN ISSUED PATENT!
The neophyte inventor often keeps his notes on slips of loose paper. Some even have these slips of paper notarized. Others mail these notes to themselves by certified mail. None of these methods have any value. A notarization simply attests to the signature - not the contents. And a sealed envelope can be steamed open, the contents altered and the envelope resealed, and sometimes even an expert cannot tell that an envelope has been tampered with. The courts hold that if a person can benefit himself by cheating, he probably will. But a stitchbound, ruled Notebook, used as outlined below, not only stands up in court, it establishes:
1) date of conception.
2) diligence.
3) documents the reduction to practice.
These are crucial data requirements in proof of ownership of patentable material, if your right to Patent is ever challenged. Should you (or your Licensee) ever become involved in Patent Litigation, your Journal will play an important role in the legal defense of your invention, and the value of your Journal will be proportionate to the effectiveness with which you have recorded your work.
RULES
1. Head each page with the project number and the subject covered. Entries on any one page should be limited to one subject, so that copies may be made without revealing other subjects. Date and sign each page (initialing will not suffice). The date should be written out, i.e., "February 22, 1993." and not "2/22/93."
2. Two witnesses who are qualified to understand the entries should sign and date each page.
3. No blank spaces or pages are allowed in the Journal. If space remains between the entry on a single page and the bottom of the page where the entry is signed, dated and witnessed, a diagonal line should be drawn across the blank portion.
4. No pages may be removed or added to the Journal.
5. Erasures are not permitted. Draw a simple line through the incorrect entry in such a manner that the original entry can still be read. never make a correction after signing and dating. If cancellation or addition has to be made, a new entry should be made stating what should be canceled or added.
6. The court refers to the Journal as a "notebook of original entry." It is, therefore, imperative that your first notes about anything (ie. ideas for future work, sketches, diagrams or graphs, etc.) be entered in your Journal. When patents are referred to, include the patent numbers. When literature is referred to, include complete references (author, volume, page, date, etc.).
7. Use your Journal as a repository for receipts covering purchases of key materials used in the experiments. Glue such receipts to the page and make reference to them in the text. Key dates can be further substantiated by photographs of a prototype which also shows the dateline and banner of a daily paper.
8. DO YOUR THINKING IN YOUR JOURNAL. Whenever you have an idea on future experimental work, record it in your Journal at once, with as much detail as possible.
Note any discussions about your idea in the Journal, and note also the people who were present. In short, make your Journal a diary so that anyone can go back to it years later (five, ten or even twenty years is not unusual in Patent actions) and report without question what you did, what you saw, what you thought, who was present, to whom you spoke, what you discussed and WHEN all this occurred.
