Abstract
Intellectual property basics for college and post-college students are presented. A patent is a contract between the inventor and the government. Writing a patent application is like writing a research thesis with specific legal requirements that must be fulfilled in order to get a valid patent. There are two types of patent applications for useful inventions: the Provisional Patent Application and the Utility Patent Application. A Provisional Patent Application allows the inventor to secure a priority date on all information the inventor sends to the USPTO on the date of the application.