Are those ads that seek out inventors with smashing new inventions a scam???
Around here, there are numerous billboards and subway ads that have a picture of a caveman chisling out a stone wheel with the headline “Got an Idea?” … or something like that. The ad goes on to ask you to submit your clever new invention to some address or phone number in exchange for help in marketing your idea…
Obviously, whomever is paying for these advertisments is in it for a profit… but are these sorts of solicitations merely patent attorney offices (or some such) offering their services? Or are they fronts for nefarious beings who would slyly steal inventors’ ideas? (or are the former and the latter the same thing?)
I think all these “invention mills” do is charge you big bucks to get your patent application submitted. Or, possibly, they save you a few bucks by getting you out of dealing with a patent lawyer, although if you had an idea that was REALLY worth money, I’d think you’d invest in a good lawyer to make sure it was protected.
That’s it. THe scam is for you to pay them to get your patent and to ‘submit it to industry’ which basically means sending them an ad mailer that most likely gets tossed.
For starters, IANAL, but most probate attorneys could handle such a case, more likely them than a criminal lawyer. They are the kind of attorneys that handle cases that involve estates. I would considering sitting down with a yellow pages and making some calls to lawyers that specialize in business laws or contracts.
I assume that any lawyer would take your case because it would be a cake walk for them. All they would do is get the necessary documents for you to apply for a patent, probably something you could and should do on your own, as lawyers can get pretty damn expensive.
IANAL but I’ve participated in turning some ideas into marketable products. A couple were successful. Others burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. It can be a wild ride.
occ and k2dave are correct about the ads you’ve seen. The only thing you’ll get from these “services” is continual requests for more money. No one in industry takes them seriously.
For general information on getting an idea or invention to market, take a look at Don Lancaster’s site. There are a number of .pdf files available about patenting and marketing inventions, particularly here and here. The emphasis is on electronics, but the concepts would apply to any field. (There are also some amusing pseudoscience links on his site.)
An experienced patent attorney can help eliminate the most common application errors and guide you through the inevitable rejections and appeals. The paperwork itself is not particularly difficult but getting the application approved is sometimes very challenging. Choose your attorney carefully and try to find one with experience in products similar to yours. Look in the Yellow Pages under “Patent Attorneys” or “Attorneys, Patent”.
If the patent is commercially viable, there’s a good chance you’ll have to defend it in court. That can consume enormous amounts of money and time. A patent attorney’s help is very valuable in that ordeal. “Pretty damn expensive” sums it up well.
A college instructor I had has done this a few times. His advice was as follows:
To get a patent, you need a patent attorney. Ask your regular attorney to find you one. Mail-order lawyers aren’t necessarily bad, it’s just a poor way of findone one. Would you use a mail-order doctor? Or mail-order divorce lawyer?
Pay for the patent on time and with all your own money, as the fees come up. For a complicated idea, a couple grand is typical, I was told.
Start shopping your idea around as “patent pending” to related companies as soon as the application is accepted (don’t wait for the patent). The US patent office publishes a listing of recently granted patents, and most big companies subscribe to this listing. For something really great, they will find you.
If it’s good, you will get offers or it will be infringed upon. When either happens, auction off the rights to the highest bidder, even if that’s the company doing the infringing. Mounting a legal fight yourself against even a small corporation is usually not worth it in hindsight; it will take all your time, money and patience. Infringing is business not personal, and you should always offer to sell to whoever will buy, never fight just for fighting’s sake. The idea behind the auction is you get as much as anybody is willing to pay, and then the corporations can go off and fight each other professionally, as is their desire. You move on, -maybe to Tahiti for a few weeks, if things went well.
You will read stories of companies paying tiny amounts for patents and then making mountains of money off them, so accept it as the way things work. As in inventor, there is no way to get your hands on that second pile of money except to manufacture and market the product yourself, and then you go from being an inventor to being a plant manager and salesman. Sometimes that works but not very often, and if it’s not what you want to do with all your waking time, sell out the patent for the highest amount offered now. Any offer made will almost always decrease with time.
Most people assume that an inventor has one good idea, sells it for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, and then retires, but that’s hardly ever been the case. Most successful inventors produce lots of patents and get rich by taking smaller amounts per patent, and not wasting time or money fighting anybody in court if they can possibly avoid it. - MC
If these are anything like the ads in back of music magazines, I would beware. These music magazine ads ask any would-be songwriters to send in song ideas they have. Many times, these companies will send a nice “thanks but no thanks” letter to the musician, and meanwhile, will take the best parts of those songs, the riff, the chorus, parts of the lyrics, etc.
Since many, many songs are similar, it would be near impossible to prove you got ripped off.
Good advice, as I’m going through this myself right now (or will be, once I get some cash flow), but wouldn’t the business savvy inventor license the patent to a company for X number of years, with dividends and residuals from sales?
He said usually not, they just offer a lump sum up front and that’s it. Sometimes there’s a use clause, which says that they have to bring it to market within some time period or lose their rights (but not get their money back from you), but that’s not often. - MC