Paper or online engineering journals?

[mingus123]

Hi, I am taking PLTW engineering classes and after 2 years I think I might be interested in starting my own project and inventing something, maybe even getting it patented one day (I can dream can't I?). I'm just confused on whether I still need to do all of my engineering journaling in a traditional bound notebook or if I could just use google docs, I'd much prefer google docs. I am serious that I want to potentially patent this project one day so I'd rather figure it out now. Thank you for your time in reading this and answering my questions.

 

[Gr8blu]

If you use online storage, be sure to check the fine print. Most of the time, the online storage entity owns the copyright - not you.

 

[3DDave]

If you plan on a patent it is very important to not allow any public information release prior to the patent application. Depending on the country, patents can be awarded based on either first to invent or first to file. In the US I believe it is first to file. It is worthwhile to do a patent search for similar products to ensure that getting a patent has a clear path and to avoid.

Here's a discussion of the above:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_to_file_and_first_to_invent