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You don't need to develop neither have a pratical thing to have a patent over it on USA.

You can read a time machine patent here: http://www.google.com/patents?id=hNHIAAAAEBAJ&printsec=f...

If you ever happen to develop this machine, this person who just imagined it can ban you from selling. So tell me, who do you think worked harder on this invention? And why would this paper (the patent) be worth more than the real invention?

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If you ever really developed a time machine, you could go back in time and either pay off (with money made from placing bets on events you know the outcome of) or in some other way prevent the original filer from submitting his claim.

Unless the original filer happened to be your grandfather

It's an application, not a patent. Anyone can apply for a patent, but they're not always granted.

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