Invention Question?

Question

I was watching Dr. Phil yesterday and it was about inventions. Well at the end the guys giving adive told everyone that if you have an idea you and spend $150 and that will keep other inventors from stilling your idea. My question is what is it called so I can look into getting one? No stupid answers please I am serious. Thanks

Answer 1

It's called a patent. Do a search for US Patent Office and see what it says about getting one.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what they mentioned, but it costs a lot more than US $150 to prepare a meaningful patent application, unless you do all the research and writing yourself.  You need to study the literature and discuss all the related work, saying why your idea is different.  Then you need to effectively communicate your idea.  There are other approaches like Trade Secret sometimes used instead.