> Filing presents two obstacles: time limit and cost. Someone else, someone who realizes the value of your idea, may see it differently. > ... or the idea is

> Filing presents two obstacles: time limit and cost. Someone else, someone who realizes the value of your idea, may see it differently. > ... or the idea is forever unpatentable. Only by you. If you don't follow up a provisional patent by filing for a full patent, this doesn't mean someone else can't take the same idea, make some minor changes, and re-file it. > It is really constricting to have to decide these things before being able to talk freely about it. There are people who have sometimes-valuable ideas and who talk freely about them. One example is mathematicians. The reason? Mathematics can't be patented.