Inventors' Red Flags
Warning Signs for Invention Promotion Firms
This guide to the credibility of invention promotion companies is intended for independent inventors. It is derived from the April 1996 issue of The Disclaimer, a newsletter of the apparently defunct Inventors Awareness Group, Inc. of Westfield, MA.
Major cautions
- Company refuses to provide in writing the number of ideas they have represented and how many inventors made more money than they invested.
- Company refuses to provide in writing the number of ideas that have been sent to them and how many they accepted.
- Company refuses to provide inventor with at least three clients (preferably in the inventors own local area) that can verify their credibility.
- Company tells you to fully describe your idea in writing and then tells you to mail this information to yourself and not open the envelope. This ploy is used to give the inventor the false impression that the idea is somehow protected. In fact, it does absolutely nothing.
- You can never directly reach the salesman without leaving a message. The salesman is most likely working out of his home and is using a phone drop.
- Company claims to be located in one State but all correspondence is postmarked from another State. Frauds commonly use fictitious addresses and mail drops to hide their true location.
Other matters of concern
- Company recommends that a design patent be applied for.
- Company provides a patent search without a patentability opinion.
- Company runs slick ads on radio, television and national magazines.
- Company offers a money back guarantee if patent does not issue.
- Salesmen apply pressure to send money in right away.
