Mailing to prove conception

patentandtrademark

The legal standards to prove "conception" of an invention are discussed in Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) 2138.04 and Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) 715.07.  Mailing anything to yourself is not a recognized way to prove "conception." 
See http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/mpep.htm</A>
Save yourself the stamps.  Save yourself the envelopes.  Save yourself the time.

patentandtrademark

let`s hope it dies a quick death.  I have issued a challenge to anybody that can provide a court case that proves otherwise - it won`t happen. 

patentandtrademark

here is a rationale:  if the federal government is going to give you a legally important "date" it wants you to mail the proof of conception to THEM with a CHECK instead of to yourself.  That way, THEY get paid.  It`s the basic pay-to-play rule.  Also, mailing to THEM provides a sort of archive that is not as subject to the game playing that might be involved in mailing to yourself [steaming and resealing the envelope, etc.]
Folks, if you want something that the gubment is going to recognize and enforce in gubment courts, you gotta play by gubment rules.  There is no law saying you have to file a patent application each time you invent something.  If you want legally recognized rights, you will either learn and follow the rules or hire somebody to do it for you.  If it is not important to you, that`s cool too.  Keep using magic envelopes, non-disclosure agreements, safety deposit boxes, etc - there is nothing wrong with any of that - it just won`t help you to stop somebody from copying you.

patentandtrademark

It goes even further than that.  Note that "who invented it first" only really comes up when BOTH parties have actually filed a patent application and are arguing about priority.  If you are not going to file the application in a timely fashion, you should probably take your postage on the mail-to-yourself envelope and put it towards a cup of coffee.  Without an issued patent, there is nothing to enforce.
"I thought of it first" is meaningless, since thinking of something first does not get your anything.  Lots of people THOUGHT about the light bulb before it was invented and patented - it`s called DREAMING.