Also important: understanding the difference between a patent application and an actual issued patent. The rule of thumb is that if it has a number in the milli

Also important: understanding the difference between a patent application and an actual issued patent. The rule of thumb is that if it has a number in the millions, like 6,123,456, then it's a patent. If it starts with a year, like 2008/1234567, then it's an application. The slash may or may not be omitted.