That said, the term “for Dummies” is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc.
The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which acquired Hungry Minds (the new name for IDG Books as of 2000) in early 2001.
The best way to patent an invention is to hire a specialized attorney to guide you through the patent process. Alternatively, you can consult the USPTO's guidance documents to prepare your application.
The Poor Man's Patent Is Obsolete Being the first to invent will no longer save you is someone else filed first. So even if you did write out the idea for your invention and mailed it to yourself, that date would not matter.
I understand that Wiley's policy is not to accept unsolicited proposals for For Dummies books, so if you want to write one, you could try approaching them through an agent, or see whether you can work with the publisher on other series first. It also helps to raise your online visibility in your area of expertise.
Generally, yes, they are useful books. They tend to be written by well-versed experts, and despite the title, they go into a fair amount of depth for each topic.
Examples of trademarks from the publishing industry include the Penguin Group's illustration of a black and white penguin on an orange background and the words “For Dummies” in a series of books from Wiley.
Instead, patent attorneys aim to settle IP disputes outside of court through means such as cease and desist letters, opposition proceedings and revocation actions. Conversely, IP lawyers specialise in the legal and commercial issues that are associated with IP.
A patent allows the creator of certain kinds of inventions that contain new ideas to keep others from making commercial use of those ideas without the creator's permission. Trademarks, on the other hand, are not concerned with how a new technology is used.
In short, a patent attorney obtains the IP rights for a client helps in asserting or defending those rights; and an IP solicitor deals with in-depth litigation of IP rights. If you have an idea or invention which needs protecting, you need to speak with a patent attorney rather than an IP lawyer/solicitor.