Question
uspto.gov says "It (a provisional patent)can be filed up to 12 months
following the date of first sale, offer for sale, public use,
or publication of the invention, whichever occurs first." But I have always heard that if you sell your invention without a patent or post about it online, it immediately becomes part of the public domain, and hence I lose patent rights. Hopefully someone can clear up my confusion?
Answer
many companies do only what you had raised as a question, the thing is, a patent takes far more time to be granted than you can afford to wait to go to market and start selling.
Here, you might find something interesting on this video http://videosift.com/video/How-I-Beat-A-Patent-Troll-Drew-Curtis-TED-Talk
When you want discuss go to market strategies and selling world over, I will be interested in hearing you out (will all due deligence and Non Disclosures)