Introduction
You have built something. It works. You have measured something anomalous — maybe a COP > 1, maybe a field effect you cannot explain with standard EM. The next question is: what do you do with it? The answer is not "publish it immediately." The answer is: establish IP protection before you do anything else.
This guide covers the IP protection sequence for scalar EM and non-conventional energy device inventors — from the first priority date through non-provisional filing, international protection, and commercialization strategy. It also covers the specific challenges of this field: overunity claims, dense prior art, and the difference between patent protection and trade secret protection.
Step 1: Establish a Priority Date Immediately
A provisional patent application (PPA) is a 12-month placeholder that establishes a priority date. It is not examined by the USPTO. It does not become a patent on its own. But the filing date becomes your priority date — the date against which all prior art is measured.
File a PPA before you publish, present at a conference, demonstrate publicly, or discuss with potential investors under NDA-free conditions. US patent law (post-AIA 2013) gives you a 1-year grace period from first public disclosure to file in the US — but international patents (PCT, European, etc.) require absolute novelty at filing. Any public disclosure before your PCT filing kills foreign rights.
File online at patentcenter.uspto.gov. Fee: $320 standard. You do not need an attorney to file a provisional, but you do need a complete, detailed specification.
Step 2: Run a Comprehensive Prior Art Search
Before you write a single word of your specification, run the prior art search. This is not optional. The prior art landscape in scalar electromagnetics is dense and complex — Bearden, Bedini, Tesla, Sweet, and dozens of other researchers have published extensively. If your device claims overlap with existing patents, your non-provisional application will be rejected and you will have paid attorney fees for nothing.
Search sources in priority order: USPTO patent database (patents.google.com), Google Patents, IEEE Xplore, SPIE Digital Library. Look for: scalar electromagnetics, overunity devices, energy extraction, monopole motors, radiant energy, asymmetric regauging. Check both issued patents and published applications.
ScalarForge's AI Prior Art Check searches USPTO, Google Patents, and academic literature for you, and is free to run. Use it as a first-pass screening tool before you engage a patent attorney for the full search. Run a free AI Prior Art Check →
Step 3: Write a Complete Specification
The specification is the most important document in your patent application. It must be detailed enough that "a person skilled in the art" can replicate your device without "undue experimentation." For an energy device, this means: complete bill of materials with functional specifications, circuit diagrams or mechanical drawings, assembly sequence, operating parameters (voltage, current, frequency, duty cycle), conditioning process if one exists, measurement protocol, and your actual measured data.
The "best mode" requirement is critical: you must disclose the best version of your invention you know of at filing time. Deliberately withholding the critical parameter is grounds for invalidation — and in this community, many failed replications trace back to inventors who withheld exactly this kind of detail.
ScalarForge's AI Patent Drafter generates a complete provisional specification from your device description: background, summary, detailed description, and patent claims formatted for USPTO submission. It is available to Researcher tier members and above. Try the AI Patent Drafter →
Step 4: Draft Your Claims
Claims define the scope of your patent. They are the legally enforceable part. Claims cover: the device itself (system claim), the method of operation (method claim), the specific circuit topology (apparatus claim), and any novel materials or processes you use (process claim).
For energy devices with anomalous results: do not claim COP > 1 in the specification or claims if you do not have airtight data from controlled experiments. Describe what the device does — how it is built, what you measured. Leave the theoretical interpretation for the background section. You can amend claims in the non-provisional application based on what you learn during the 12-month provisional period.
Step 5: File the Non-Provisional Within 12 Months
Provisional applications expire at 12 months — they cannot be extended. Set a calendar reminder for 11 months out. At month 11, you need either a filed non-provisional application or a decision to abandon the provisional (at which point your priority date is lost if you have not publicly disclosed before filing).
The non-provisional requires: formal patent claims, an abstract, formal drawings if not included in provisional, and the filing fee ($320 standard, $1,600 large entity). If you used an AI Patent Drafter for the provisional specification, the non-provisional attorney has far less work to do — which means lower attorney fees.
Step 6: International Protection (PCT)
If you want patent protection in foreign markets, file a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application within 12 months of your US provisional filing. The PCT does not grant patents — it preserves the right to file in 150+ countries. You have 30 months from your priority date to enter national phase in each country where you want protection.
PCT filing fee: approximately $1,600–$2,500 depending on entity size. National phase entry in each country: $1,000–$5,000 per country. Total international protection: $15,000–$50,000 if you pursue broad coverage. Many inventors skip international protection for cost reasons — US protection is meaningful if your primary market is US.
Patent vs. Trade Secret: Which Is Right for You
For non-conventional energy devices, this is a genuinely hard question. The tradeoffs:
Patents protect the device architecture and claims for 20 years from filing. They require full public disclosure of how to replicate. They cost $4,000–$12,000 in attorney fees for a non-provisional application. They are public — competitors can read your patent and design around it. For inventions with a clear, documentable novel circuit topology or process, patents are usually the right answer.
Trade secrets protect what patents cannot: manufacturing processes, conditioning protocols, material sourcing relationships. They last indefinitely as long as they remain secret. They require strict internal security (NDAs, document control, restricted access). They do not protect against reverse engineering. If your critical IP is in the execution (the specific conditioning procedure, the proprietary material processing), trade secret protection may be more valuable than a patent.
For the highest-claims devices in the scalar EM field (Sweet VTA conditioning, specific MEG core material processing), trade secret protection may actually be more appropriate than patent disclosure — which is why some of the most famous failures in this field trace back to inventors who chose disclosure over secrecy.
Commercialization Path
If you intend to commercialize rather than license, the patent timeline and regulatory path interact. Energy devices intended to produce usable electrical output may fall under FCC rules for unintentional radiators or DOE testing requirements. Medical or biological devices require FDA pathway determination (Class I/II/III depending on intended use and risk profile). Commercialization of non-conventional energy devices with overunity claims faces a complex regulatory environment that does not yet have clear precedent.
The ScalarForge IP Marketplace provides an NDA-protected channel for presenting your invention to accredited investors and industry partners without the prior art risk of a public disclosure. Explore the IP Marketplace →
IP Tools for ScalarForge Members
Three tools specifically for IP protection: AI Prior Art Check (free, searches USPTO and academic literature), AI Patent Drafter (Researcher tier, generates provisional specification and claims), and the Patent Intelligence Hub (Inventor Pro tier, 4-tab analysis covering novelty, FTO, competitive landscape, and provisional drafting strategy). Explore membership tiers →