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This advice is from the April 1996 issue of The Disclaimer, a newsletter of the apparently defunct Inventors Awareness Group, Inc. of Westfield, MA.
 Warnings
This list can be used as a guide to verify the credibility of invention promotion companies.
A red ball means extreme caution and a yellow one, caution. The more warnings there are, the more cautious you should be.
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.
 Salesmen apply pressure to send money in right away.
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.
Company recommends that a design patent be applied for.
Company provides a patent search without a patentability opinion.
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.
Company runs slick ads on Radio, Television and national magazines.
Company offers a money back guarantee if patent does not issue.
Other U.S. Intellectual Property Information
for Independent Inventors...
URL: http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/iag3.htm
Modified May 12, 2001.
Franklin Pierce Law Center
Two White Street • Concord, NH 03301 • 603.228.1541
© 2002-2007 Franklin Pierce Law Center. All rights reserved.
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