A patent provides a patent owner with the exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter throughout the United States.  In other words, if the idea isn’t a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter that can be made, used, offered for sale or sold, a patent won’t cover it. We typically start with a provisional patent application because (1) it's inexpensive, (2) it's not a formal patent so easy and fast to prepare, and (3) it documents you as the inventor, the drawings and written description as the invention and the filing date as the date of invention for up to 12 months so you can work on the invention, and find investors and buyers to help pay for a full patent application.