There is no guarantee that an invention, design, or plant that is
patented will sell. In fact, most patents do not generate income for
their owners. (See sidebar)

A U.S. patent is only enforceable in the United States.

Patents are not issued for great ideas or mere suggestions. Patents are granted to people who (claim to) "invent or discover any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof"—to quote the essence of the U.S. statute governing patents.

A patent provides protection for your intellectual property, but when you are deciding if you should apply for a patent you should keep in mind that: 1) it takes work and it can be expensive to obtain a patent, and 2) patents protect your invention for a limited term, but they also disclose your information. Disseminating information while protecting inventors is one of the reasons patent offices exist. If you have invented something you think you can profit from but still want to keep the important details secret, you may opt not to get a patent.

The government does not get involved in testing or verifying submitted inventions to see if they work.

Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever—as long as they are being used in business.

Generally, the first person to use a trademark is the first person to acquire rights to the mark.

A federally-registered mark generally preempts a state-issued registration.

There is a difference. If the mark will only be used within the state of Texas, then the mark could just be registered with the Texas Secretary of State Office. If the trademark will be used beyond the borders of the state of Texas, it should be registered with the USPTO, as well as with the Texas Secretary of State Office.

A mark must be in use in Texas and must be inherently distinctive or, if not inherently distinctive, it must have acquired distinctiveness through a person’s substantial and exclusive use.