My understanding is the US the Patent Office is severely backed up, which is the delay. There are a lot of companies that use their product while it is in the p

My understanding is the US the Patent Office is severely backed up, which is the delay. There are a lot of companies that use their product while it is in the patent process. You'll notice this whenever there is the note "Patent Pending". I have no patent and am not in the process of getting one but I would suggest you do use it even though it isn't granted yet. There is no guarantee that you will get the patent and if you wait a few years and you don't get it granted that is a few years you could've been using it.