Invention Promotion Companies

Almost every day I get a call from a client who has been contacted by an invention promotion company.  I tell them that its probably a scam.  "Oh no, these guys sound legit.  They'll pay half of my airplane ticket to talk to them.  They think my invention is great and will sell a lot."  Sure they'll pay half your airplane ticket, because they are going to take you for many thousands of dollars.  Usually, I can check out the names of the company at the U.S. Patent Inventor Fraud Complaint site, and find a few complaints (scroll down to find the complaints).

Then I tell my client to ask them the 10 questions that they are required by law to answer, and get their answer in writing.  These questions are found at the U.S. Patent Office Scam Prevention site.  The 10 questions are:

1. Total number of inventions evaluated for commercial potential in the past five years by the Company and how many of those evaluations were positive and accepted by the Company and how many were negative and rejected by the Company.

[Legitimate firms have fairly low acceptance rates. usually under 5%].

2. Total number of customers, known by the Company, who have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the Company's promotion services and what is the Company's success rate over the past five years [that is, the number of clients who have made more money from their invention than they have paid to the Company].

3. Names and addresses of all previous invention promotion companies with which the Company or its officers have collectively or individually been affiliated in the previous 10 years and what other names has the Company used in this or other states.

4. Total number of customers, known by the Company, to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the Company's services. [lf the success rate is too low, say less than 2-5%, then think about going elsewhere].

5. How many customers (inventors or their representatives) have contracted with the Company for promotional services in the past 5 years; excluding those who have purchased trade show services research, advertising or other non-marketing service: and excluding those who have defaulted on payment: to the Company.

6. Is there an up-front fee and, if so, how much is it and what are you getting for it? How much will the complete process cost from submission of my invention to obtaining a patent and a licensing agreement? [Reputable firms have relatively small, if any upfront or other fees because they make their real money from successful royalty arrangements for the inventions they accept].

7. Has the Company ever been investigated by or been in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, any consumer protection agency or Attorney General's Office and if so, when and where?

8. Who selects and pays for the patent attorney or agent to do the patent search, patentability opinion and patent application preparation? [You should be able to select your own, because the attorney or agent represents you, not the Company].

9. Provide you with the names, addresses and phone numbers of five clients of the Company in you geographical area and copies of all contracts and forms to review [Do this before signing or paying any money].

10. Does the Company provide a written opinion of the “marketability” (that is, potential success) of your invention? [If all you get is a market analysis, for example, the number of potential customers, it’s probably not worth much].

The ten questions and seeing a number of complaints about their hero usually cools the deal.  Ripoffreport.com and the Bob Villas Discussion Board have good information, also.  The sales person's name in a google search, with the word "complaint" always yields a few hits, also.  Once, after saving a client $25,000, I sent him a bill for $400 for the time I had spent researching his promotion company, as he had asked me to, and he got irritated about being billed for it.  Well, Excuuuse me!  Anyway, inventors beware.  No one is going to market your invention but you.   

Comments

[krris]

Thank you very much indeed. Your warnings are very much in the real world. Bless you for your timely insights.

Krris krrisnaikker@yahoo.com

[Laura]

Very good advice on going to google and putting the word complaint with the persons name or company name. Finally found the info I was looking for and not finding any other war, that way. You saved me alot of heartache. Keep up the good work. -L