It May Be Too Good To Be True if You Hear
- "We think your idea has great market potential."
- "Our company has licensed a lot of invention ideas successfully."
- "You need to hurry and patent your idea before someone else does."
- "Congratulations! We've done a patent search on your idea, and we have some great news. There's nothing like it out there."
- "Our research department, engineers, and patent attorneys have evaluated your idea. We definitely want to move forward."
- "Our company has evaluated your idea, and now wants to prepare a more in-depth research report. It'll be several hundred dollars."
- "Our company makes most of its money from the royalties it gets from licensing its clients' ideas. Of course, we need some money from you before we get started."
Why? - Because
- "We think your idea has great market potential."
Few ideas, however good, become commercially successful. If a company fails to disclose that investing in your idea is a high-risk venture, and that most ideas never make any money, beware.
- "Our company has licensed a lot of invention ideas successfully."
If a company tells you it has a good track record, ask for a list of its successful clients. Confirm that these clients have had commercial success. If the company refuses to give you a list of their successful clients, it probably means they don't have any.
- "You need to hurry and patent your idea before someone else does."
Be wary of high pressure sales tactics. Although some patents are valuable, simply patenting your idea does not mean you will ever make any money from it.
- "Congratulations! We've done a patent search on your idea, and we have some great news. There's nothing like it out there."
Many invention promotion firms claim to perform patent searches on ideas. Patent searches by fraudulent invention promotion firms usually are incomplete, conducted in the wrong category, or unaccompanied by a legal opinion on the results of the search from a patent attorney. Because unscrupulous firms promote virtually any idea or invention without regard to its patentability, they may market an idea for which someone already has a valid, unexpired patent. In that case, you may be the subject of a patent infringement lawsuit, even if the promotional efforts on your invention are successful.
- "Our research department, engineers, and patent attorneys have evaluated your idea. We definitely want to move forward."
This is a standard sales pitch. Many questionable firms do not perform any evaluation at all. In fact, many don't have the professional staff they claim.
- "Our company has evaluated your idea, and now wants to prepare a more in-depth research report. It'll be several hundred dollars."
If the company's initial evaluation is "positive," ask why the company isn't willing to cover the cost of researching your idea further.
- "Our company makes most of its money from the royalties it gets from licensing its clients' ideas. Of course, we need some money from you before we get started."
If a firm tells you this, but asks you to pay a large fee upfront or to agree to make credit payments, ask why they're not willing to help you on a contingency basis. Unscrupulous firms make almost all their money from advance fees.
