Hedy and George decided that their invention would significantly help the war effort. Therefore, they submitted their idea to the National Inventors Council. The director of the Council and research director at General Motors, Charles Kettering, advised them to patent their invention. However, they still had a few minor technical problems. With help from an electrical engineer at MIT, they worked out these few problems and then applied for a patent in June of 1941. "On August 11, 1942, [Hedy and George] were awarded US Patent Number 2,292,387 for the Secret Communications System" (MicroTimes).