Yup. The world of patents.* Youthful zeal, I experienced the
   patent and trademark office and after spending some, but not
   much money, in my mid-20s, got happily rejected for trying to
   trademark, "Our Local Guru"; this idea I had of a business that
   highlighted the "best of the best" in their fields-for-hire.
   Nothing came of it; although I do have a nice rejection letter
   on their letterhead; worth the $50 or $100 or whatever they
   wanted at the time. My favorite "almost" invention was full
   field-of-view backup cameras.* I came up with them even though I
   was walking to work at the time.* It was the late 1990s and
   cheap webcams and displays were becoming a real possibility.* It
   seemed simple, nobody was doing it. Drew up the plans, learned
   all about the patent process, how much it would cost me. But the
   day before I was doing to get a hold of someone to start walking
   me through the process, I thought, "Let me just see if someone
   else did it first.* I know nobody else did; I scoured the web!"
   Well, there it was.* 6 months previous to "my invention", a guy
   with a long Japanese name patented the same exact idea from
   California.* Backup cameras, full field of view, located at a
   convenient glance through the steering wheel or just above.,
   using inexpensive hardware, just as my plans had. So, I threw up
   my hands and said, 'Ok, patent office, I'm done with you." And I
   came to terms with the idea that: If I thought up an idea, it's
   "time had come" and it's very likely 10, 100, 100 10000 people
   have ALSO come up with the same idea around the same time-frame
   as me.* And ONE OF THEM will pay for the patent and go through
   the headache. Once I saw it in those terms, I realized that,
   "Yes, it's my invention.* And it's also his, and hers, and*
   hers, and his".* My thought processes came up with it
   independently from theirs.* They just won the race.* And really,
   do I care if I win the race? They can win it for me. With my
   invention. And, they can get the money. I'm just happy to know I
   had a good idea too. :D