Non-provisional patent application filed September 28, 2026 USPTO 19/821,957 Patent status →
PARTNER · SUPPORT · INVEST

Three Ways In.

Mirror Protocol is a governance architecture for AI-assisted creation: creation-time provenance, portable attribution, and exportable audit trails. It is patent-pending: the non-provisional application was filed September 28, 2026.

Support comes in three forms, and they are not the same thing. Pick the one that matches what you can do.

Sagacious Sounds LLC · Indiana USPTO Application No. 19/821,957 Non-Provisional Filed · Sept 28, 2026
Where Things Stand

Plainly, Before Anything Else

No projections, no traction claims, no invented numbers. Here is the actual position as of this page's last update.

What exists

  • A non-provisional patent application filed September 28, 2026 (USPTO 19/821,957), at micro-entity status, claiming priority to provisional 63/893,332 filed October 3, 2025.
  • A documented governance architecture: five pillars, council model, three defined output artifacts.
  • A published application to press integrity, with a sourced evidence base.
  • A CLEAR Act implementation mapping written for legislative staff.
  • A working catalog of AI-assisted music produced under the protocol's own discipline.

What does not yet exist

  • A granted patent. The application is pending and has not yet been examined.
  • A deployed software implementation. A reference implementation and private prototype exist; nothing is deployed in production.
  • A signed institutional pilot.
  • Outside capital of any kind.

Stating the second column is the point. A governance proposal that overstates its own position has already failed its own test.

The Three Paths

Support, Pilot, or Partner

Different asks, different commitments, different people. Nothing here is disguised as something else.

Tier 1 · Now

Support the Application

The non-provisional application was filed on September 28, 2026, ahead of the October 3 deadline. The next costs are prosecution: disclosing relevant prior art and responding to the USPTO during examination.

This is a contribution, not an investment. It buys no equity, no share of revenue, and no claim on the patent. It supports the application through examination.

For individuals, creators, and anyone who wants the architecture to see examination through.
Contribute via GoFundMe
Tier 2 · Build

Sponsor a Pilot

The fastest way to prove the protocol is to run it against real work: a newsroom's story workflow, a label's release, or an institution's AI-assisted output — producing an actual disclosure pack, attribution ledger, and audit export.

Pilot sponsorship funds the build and the documentation. The sponsoring organization gets the outputs, the findings, and named involvement in what the pilot establishes.

For foundations, press-freedom funders, publishers, and institutions with a governance problem to solve.
Start a pilot conversation
Tier 3 · Long Horizon

Partner or Invest

A managed governance service is the durable business: disclosure pipelines, attribution ledgers, verification services, and audit exports deployable across music, media, publishing, education, and enterprise knowledge systems.

Conversations about equity, licensing, or joint development in Sagacious Sounds LLC happen directly and privately, with materials shared under NDA where appropriate.

For investors, strategic partners, and operators who build infrastructure rather than campaigns.
Request a private conversation
About the GoFundMe Route

Why a Patent Filing Belongs on a Donation Platform

A reasonable question: should a for-profit company be raising money this way? The answer is in how the platform is built.

Business fundraisers are a supported category

GoFundMe operates a dedicated path for business and startup fundraisers alongside personal ones. Raising funds for a specific business need — equipment, expansion, or in this case a patent application — is an intended use of the platform, not a workaround.

GoFundMe · Start a business fundraiser →

Donation-based by design — which is the point

GoFundMe offers only donation-based crowdfunding: supporters contribute without receiving any financial or material return, and no equity changes hands. That structure is precisely why this route is appropriate here. It keeps a contribution a contribution, and keeps it clearly separate from any investment conversation.

GoFundMe · Terms of Service →

Organizers remain responsible for describing accurately what funds are for and how they are used. That is why the use-of-funds breakdown below exists, and why this campaign states its purpose — patent filing and prosecution costs — rather than a general appeal.

Use of Funds

What Money Actually Goes To

Ordered by urgency. Costs vary with counsel, claim count, and entity status, so these are categories rather than quoted figures — exact numbers are provided on request rather than estimated in public.

Priority Item Why it matters
1 Non-provisional filing — USPTO fees Completed September 28, 2026 (USPTO 19/821,957), before the October 3 deadline.
2 Prior-art disclosure and prosecution support Relevant prior art must be disclosed to the USPTO. Doing this properly protects the application's validity.
3 Reference implementation of the three output artifacts Turns a documented architecture into something a partner can run against real work.
4 Pilot delivery with a first institutional partner Produces evidence rather than argument — the thing every subsequent conversation needs.
5 Policy and newsroom outreach Briefings, staffer materials, and the evidence base that supports both.
Why This, Why Now

Why the Timing Matters

The Legal Clock

The priority date is claimed

A provisional holds a priority date for twelve months. The non-provisional was filed within that window, on September 28, 2026, claiming the October 3, 2025 date.

The Market Clock

Standards get set once

Provenance standards are being written now. Whoever is in the room when they harden determines whether creators and newsrooms are participants or subjects.

The Public Clock

Correction is losing

After-the-fact fact-checking produces single-digit reductions in the spread of what it corrects. The case for governance at the creation layer gets stronger every month it is not built.

See the evidence and sourcing →
Disclosure

What This Page Is and Is Not

Rather just talk it through?
bruce@sagacious-sounds.com · +1 (317) 760-3545 — Bruce Edward Smith, Indianapolis, Indiana
Open the Contact Form