Want to make an easy billion dollars off of your invention? Just pay a small fortune to an invention promotion company and watch the money start pouring in. Right? Sorry, “Fantasy Island” was just a TV show.
The truth is that patents are not automatic money printing machines. For most successful inventors, it takes a combination of a quality invention, solid intellectual property protection, a good business plan, tenacity and good luck for an idea to turn into money.
Unfortunately, many inventors fall victim to unscrupulous invention promotion companies where a scammer will sucker them into parting with tens of thousands of dollars and receiving next to nothing in return.
How do these companies make millions a year and provide so little in return? Because very few people ask the five basic questions that an invention promotion company must answer under federal law. So what are the questions?
1. What is the total number of inventions evaluated for commercial potential in the past five years, the number of positive evaluations and the number of negative evaluations? Try to decide if the company gives honest feedback or loves every invention to get money out of the inventors.
2. What is the total number of customers who have contracted with the promoter in the past five years?
3. What is the total number of customers who have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the services provided by such promoter? A smart inventor will then divide this number by two to see the percentage of inventors who actually profited from their relationship with the promoter. The averages I have seen, having gone over a number of these proposals with inventors, is usually less than 2 percent.
4. What is the total number of customers known by the promoter to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the promotion services? Compare the number of positive evaluations from question one to the number of licenses. If the invention promoter licenses only a small percentage of the inventions, apparently they can't gauge a quality invention very well.
5. What are the names and addresses of all of the previous promotion companies that the promoter or its officers have been affiliated with in the last 10 years? Unfortunately, many scammers in the invention promotion business bankrupt out of lawsuits or change their name to avoid negative publicity, then start up the same scam under a different name.
For more information, call Eric Hanscom at (760) 804-1712 or visit www.iciplaw.com.
The truth is that patents are not automatic money printing machines. For most successful inventors, it takes a combination of a quality invention, solid intellectual property protection, a good business plan, tenacity and good luck for an idea to turn into money.
Unfortunately, many inventors fall victim to unscrupulous invention promotion companies where a scammer will sucker them into parting with tens of thousands of dollars and receiving next to nothing in return.
How do these companies make millions a year and provide so little in return? Because very few people ask the five basic questions that an invention promotion company must answer under federal law. So what are the questions?
1. What is the total number of inventions evaluated for commercial potential in the past five years, the number of positive evaluations and the number of negative evaluations? Try to decide if the company gives honest feedback or loves every invention to get money out of the inventors.
2. What is the total number of customers who have contracted with the promoter in the past five years?
3. What is the total number of customers who have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the services provided by such promoter? A smart inventor will then divide this number by two to see the percentage of inventors who actually profited from their relationship with the promoter. The averages I have seen, having gone over a number of these proposals with inventors, is usually less than 2 percent.
4. What is the total number of customers known by the promoter to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the promotion services? Compare the number of positive evaluations from question one to the number of licenses. If the invention promoter licenses only a small percentage of the inventions, apparently they can't gauge a quality invention very well.
5. What are the names and addresses of all of the previous promotion companies that the promoter or its officers have been affiliated with in the last 10 years? Unfortunately, many scammers in the invention promotion business bankrupt out of lawsuits or change their name to avoid negative publicity, then start up the same scam under a different name.
For more information, call Eric Hanscom at (760) 804-1712 or visit www.iciplaw.com.