Excellent ideas, and another I have heard is
that many bank branches offer a "sealed envelope"
service in their bank vault, for a small fee they
seal your envelope of legal documents or design
papers, stamp it, witness the time and date and
store it in their vault.

As any patent is only as good as the amount of money
you spend in court defending it, systems like this
that prove the date of your design can be just as
defendable in court even if someone patents it
afterward.
-Roman

Jinx wrote:
>
> > How does Joe Public go about this?
> > I've done it in a corporate setting, but that involved three steps.
>
> There is a cheap option that I use. It does indeed put people off
> copying, I've used it so. As soon as possible, put your idea or
> any documentation on a prototype in a registered envelope and
> post it to yourself. Do not open it when you get it. In NZ this is
> evidence that can be used to establish originality.
>
> The second alternative is to register the design, which will take
> NZ$200-$300 for the full service
>
> Neither of the two above offer the full protection of a patent (but let's
> face it, even the so-called protection of a full patent means nothing
> to a fly-by-night sweatshop). They are, however, substantially less
> expensive and at least show you mean business

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