Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 15 Registration and Gift Giving
Since Lawyer Barbara has pointed out the right direction, Ethan will naturally continue to move forward unswervingly.

After returning home and having a simple lunch made by Linda, he looked up the California Yellow Pages and found a number.

After a busy tone, a female voice without any emotion came from the other end of the line.

"This is the California Office of the American Patent Office."

"Hello, ma'am. I have an invention and I want to apply for a patent. It's a personal application and also a temporary application. What documents do I need to bring and where do I go to apply for it?" Ethan expressed his request clearly.

"Sir, I'm glad you support the work of our patent office."

The female voice on the other end of the phone said carefully: "The steps for individual provisional patent applications are very simple. You only need to bring the drawings and specifications of the invention to our offline office. The address of our office is 26 Fourth Street, San Jose. You can come here from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. By the way, a friendly reminder that individual provisional applications require an application fee of $70."

"..."

'It's really a bit expensive.'

Ethan's mouth twitched as he hung up the phone.

You have to know that his previous weekly salary at MILO was only eighty dollars, and all the materials for "Snake", including the second-hand TV and joystick sponsored by Evelyn, only added up to four hundred dollars.

And now, the cost of a provisional patent application is seventy dollars?

How can a normal person afford this?
"It's capitalism, everything is about money." Ethan shook his head and complained: "No wonder the Pigeon Sect made a special video for Walter Hunt. It's too miserable to have the ability to invent but no money to register a patent."

But no matter how expensive it is, you have to use it.

After hanging up the phone, Ethan started to prepare according to the other party's request.

The arcade drawings drawn by Evelyn were copied manually, with the main emphasis on the content of the game, that is, when the game starts, the snake will move on its own, and when the joystick is operated, the snake can turn, etc.

As for things like circuit diagrams, he didn't draw them at all and didn't need to draw them.

After all, as Barbara said, provisional applications are not reviewed at all, and what you should write most is actually what you most want to be protected by law.

After finishing all this, it was already past one o'clock in the afternoon. Then Ethan spent another twenty minutes walking ten miles to San Jose to submit his application to the California office of the Patent Office.

"Excuse me, are you applying for a patent for the video game arcade machine Snake Game in the name of Evelyn Johnson and Ethan Jones?" asked the clerk.

"Yeah." Ethan nodded.

Ethan and Evelyn had agreed to put both names on the patent application.

"Okay, wait a moment."

Although there will always be people criticizing the low efficiency of American government agencies in the future, that only refers specifically to projects that give money. When it comes to projects that collect money, they have always been vigorous and resolute.

The clerk made some copies, and in less than five minutes, Ethan received a receipt for the temporary application.

It contains the patent number of the provisional application, the application date, the title of the invention and the name of the inventor.

At the same time, the other party also said, "Mr. Jones, the provisional application has been completed. In the next year, you can submit a formal application to us at any time. If you do not submit it, the provisional application will automatically expire tomorrow one year later and will be permanently archived. If you submit it, then your provisional application will be made public by us in the form of a priority oath."

"OK, thanks."

Ethan was very happy looking at the receipt, which was a little simple but represented the iron fist of the law.

There's nothing we can do about it. After all, this thing represents money.

Humming a tune and singing a song, I returned to the car happily.

He glanced at his watch and saw half past two, which made him feel it was still early.

So he turned around and stopped in front of a video store in San Jose.

On the store's signboard, there is a poster of a blonde woman in a red dress, with the words "I Honestly Love You" - Olivia Newton John written on it.

“Holy shit, this song has already been released?”

Ethan was very surprised because he liked this song more in his previous life.

It’s just that it’s not the original version, but a cover by a male artist.

He muttered something and ignored it. He waved to the store owner, and a middle-aged white man with a wealthy face immediately ran out.

"Sir, how can I help you?"

“Is there any new work by Barbra Streisand?”

"Are you referring to The Way We Are, which came out last year?"

"Can you show it to me?" "Wait a moment, sir."

After a moment, the white man ran out again with an album. It was a palm-sized cassette with an image of Barbra Streisand wearing a black robe on the plastic packaging.

This cover made Ethan's eyes light up. He nodded and said, "Yes, that's it. Is there a deluxe edition? The one with a poster?"

"Of course." The boss returned to the store again.

When he came out for the third time, he had a box the size of a schoolbag in his hand.

"It's a vinyl version. It includes a copy of the record, three posters, and an album production note. If you want it, it's fifteen dollars."

"Please help me wrap it up. It's a formal dress."

"Sir, that'll cost an extra dollar."

"no problem."

Ethan counted out sixteen dollars from his wallet and handed it to him. A few minutes later, the boss came out with a gift box that could be held in both hands. The pure white outer packaging and pink ribbon were things that Ethan did not tell him about.

"Very good!"

Ethan smiled at his boss, then turned on the radio and came to Stanford to the sound of soothing music.

Since they arrived a little early, Ethan simply put down the seat and lay leisurely in the car.

I don’t know how long it was, but when the bang bang bang sounds started, joking words followed.

"Wow~ You're in a good mood!"

As soon as Ethan opened his eyes, Evelin was already in the co-pilot seat, “It looks like things went smoothly?”

"uh-huh."

Ethan pulled the receipt out of his jacket pocket and flicked it.

The list made of A4 paper suddenly made a crisp sound.

Evelin took it and looked at it, praising it, “Oh~ OK, you have great mobility.”

"Of course." Ethan said, "You have helped me complete the preliminary preparations. If I can't handle this little thing, I can really find a place to crash and die."

"YoYoYo~ What happened to you today? Did you eat a milkshake from McDonald's?"

Evelyn smiled and said, “Oh, or are you happy and want to thank me? If it’s the former, I think I will complain to Linda that you went to eat junk food again, and if it’s the latter… humph, I won’t accept any verbal thanks!”

"Okay, okay, I understand."

Ethan pressed his hands together and said, "So, I'm not going to thank you verbally."

As he said this, he pointed to the back seat with his thumb.

Feeling strange, Evelin immediately turned her head.

In a flash, she saw the exquisite packaging hidden under her clothes, and she couldn't wait to take it in her hand.

"Give it to me?"

"uh-huh."

“I demolished it?”

"Please."

Before he finished speaking, the ribbon had been untied.

There was silence for a second, as if time had stopped.

The sudden scream was a sign of Shi Fang's joy.

“The Way We Are on vinyl???”

"Oh My God!!! This is what I wrote to you that day! No! I was only writing the album at that time..."

"Oh Ethan! I love you so much!!!"

Note: ① Yellow Pages is a telephone directory, which was created in the United States in 1880. According to the American custom, it will list the telephone numbers of institutions and enterprises in a city or region. ② Walter Hunt, inventor, most famous for inventing the sewing machine. ③ Olivia Newton John, singer and actor, starred in Grease with John Travolta, the man who starred in Face/Off with Nicolas Cage. ④ Leslie Cheung covered "I Honestly Love You".

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(End of this chapter)