There are numerous nefarious companies out there that will try everything possible to separate you from your money and your invention idea. These invention company scams prey on your passion to make your invention a profitable reality.
Invention company scams want you to believe that they are the proverbial ‘silver bullet’, a one stop shop to take your invention idea and turn it into a multi million dollar success. Unfortunately, most invention ideas fail to make any money at all. Not only that, but the extremely small number of ‘legitimate’ invention service providers out there are exceptionally selective in terms of the clients that they decide to take on.
Below is the first in a multi series post on how you can protect your money and your invention ideas from invention scams. In this post, we will examine how invention scams typically work. Recognizing how these scammers try to con you out of your idea and your money will be the first tool for you to use in your anti invention scam toolkit.
How Invention Scams Typically Work
Step 1:
You’re enthusiastic. You just came up with an invention idea that is going to revolutionize the world and make you millions or even billions. In less than a year, you know that you will be living the good life. Already, you are imagining how good it will feel when you tell your boss that you are quitting. Unfortunately, you don’t have a clue as to what it will take to successfully patent, finance, market, or even manufacture the invention idea that you just came up with. Then, as if by a stroke of good luck an advertisement on the TV or radio or in a newspaper or magazine grabs your attention. The advertisement goes something like this, “Inventors, do you have a great idea that you think will make you rich? Well, we want to help you. [Call us, email us, or write us] for your free [inventor’s kit, brochures, or guides].” You’re immediately hooked and can’t help but contact the company.
Step 2:
In the mail, you receive your [inventor’s kit, brochures, or guides]. Included with these materials is a non-disclosure form that appears to be signed by the company’s [president, founder, head of inventor development]. The pre-signed confidentiality agreement looks very official and you’re impressed that the company would go through such lengths to help you protect your idea. Also included with the [inventor’s kit, brochures, or guides] is an invention evaluation form that asks you several questions about your idea. You are also asked to include a sketch of your idea along with being asked to complete some personal information about yourself. Finally, the company may include customer satisfaction survey results along with glowing recommendations from other successful inventors that previously used the company’s services.
Step 3:
A couple of days go by and then you are contacted by the company’s [inventor advocate, inventor representative, invention assistant]. Either by mail or by phone, the company representative will tell you that they have reviewed your invention evaluation form that you have submitted. The company’s [inventor advocate, inventor representative, invention assistant] will sound very excited and state that your invention idea is extremely feasible and the potential market for your invention is huge. However, if you would like a complete report on exactly how patentable, marketable, and lucrative your invention idea is, you’ll need to pay [insert dollar amount here].
Once again, you get really excited. It seems like your invention idea is really going to take off thanks to the help from this company. You tell yourself that the [insert dollar amount here] of money that you need to spend on the report isn’t all that much, all things considered. So, you send the company the money via [check, paypal, cash] and await your ‘official’ invention report.
Step 4:
Again, a couple of days go by when you receive in the mail an official looking bound glossy report. On the first page, you see a quick summary of your invention idea. The next couple of pages again state that the company believes that your idea is highly patentable and, based upon initial evaluations, will be extremely lucrative. There may be a few graphs thrown in showing the potential profits from your invention over the next several years along with the potential market size.
In your excitement, you fail to notice that there wasn’t really a lot of information in this ‘official’ invention report that you paid [insert dollar amount here] of money for. In addition, there wasn’t any supporting evidence as to how the company came up with the market size and profitability numbers in the accompanying graphs either.
Step 5:
Shortly after you receive your ‘official’ invention report, your assigned [inventor advocate, inventor representative, invention assistant] will contact you yet again. They will sound cheery and try and tell you that you need to move fast to patent your idea. Next, they will tell you that only with a proper patent will your idea be truly protected. The company will assure you that getting a patent for your particular idea will be an extremely quick and easy process because it such so [original, novel, innovative]. The invention company might even guarantee that your invention idea will be patented. The [inventor advocate, inventor representative, invention assistant] may state that they can make this claim because they have [insert number of years] experience working with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. At the end of their sales pitch they will say something like, “If you want to go ahead with getting a patent and we really think that you should, you’ll need to pay [insert dollar amount here] first”.
Seeing as how you have already spent the money on the ‘official’ invention report, you figure you might as well have the company do everything that needs to be done for you to get a patent on your idea. Again, you send the company the money via [check, paypal, cash] and await your official patent documentation in the mail.
Step 6:
Your patent eventually arrives in the mail. It looks official enough. You can’t help but laugh. Everyone else has been telling you how hard it would be to get a patent for your idea and that you would need to spend [insert dollar amount] of money on a patent attorney. Getting your patent was so simple that you can’t wait to tell everyone that they are throwing their money away by hiring a patent attorney.
What you don’t know is that the company applied for a design patent on your idea. A design patent simply protects how your idea looks (take for example the unique shape of a classic Coca Cola bottle). Unfortunately for you, a design patent does not mean that the functionality of your idea will be protected. Instead, you would need to have a utility patent to protect the way your invention idea is used or worked which you clearly do not have.
Your [inventor advocate, inventor representative, invention assistant] will once again ring you up on the phone. They will then tell you that, “thanks to your idea being successfully patented, that you can move forward with licensing your idea”. Not only that, but the invention company already has a few manufacturers lined up that would very much like to talk with you. They will end their spiel with, “For only [insert dollar amount here] we will take your idea and get several potential licensing agreements all set up for you”.
You were right all along, you are going to be rich. You jump up and down with joy as you send the company the requested money via [check, paypal, cash].
Step 7 – The long wait:
One day, you wake up and ask yourself, “What the [insert expletive here]! It’s been [insert number of months or years] since that invention company has contacted me”! You slowly start to realize that you have just been the victim of a successful invention scam. At this point, it’s too late. You become mad at yourself for being swindled out of so much money so easily. You go on to tell yourself that coming up with the invention in the first place was just a dumb idea. Your dream of living the good life suddenly collapses around you.
Fortunately, your invention idea doesn’t have to end up like this. In our next post, we’ll talk about the invention scam warning signs that you need to be on the look out for.
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