Have you ever thought about what the Inventors Protection Act means to you as an inventor when it comes to dealing with an invention submission company?
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Well that’s where the Inventors Protection act of 1999 comes in….. This law provides a policing mechanism for regulating the sometimes-unscrupulous invention promotion services in the industry. .
An "invention promoter" is defined to include any entity that performs invention promotion services and holds itself out through advertising in any mass media as providing such services. The term does not include government agencies, nonprofit organizations, entities evaluating issued utility patents or previously filed non-provisional patent applications, entities participating in the sale of stock or business assets, or parties that directly engage in the retail sales of products.The act tries to fill the void in regulations governing such businesses, regulations that were virtually nonexistent.
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Now all invention promoters must enter into a written contract with an inventor. In addition, before contracting, an invention promoter must provide to the inventor written information about the company, including the total number of evaluations the promoter has provided in the past five years, broken down by positive and negative evaluations.
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The writing must provide information on the number of inventors who contracted with the invention promoter or his company, the number who received profits from their inventions in excess of the fees paid, and the number who entered into license agreements as a result of the services. The new law also requires that the writing list the names of each invention promotion organization the officers and directors have been affiliated with in the last ten years.
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So what does that look like?
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Here is an example of the numbers from one of the most popular invention companies currently in business trying to “Help” inventors
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AFFIRMATIVE DISCLOSURE STATEMENTYou should read all of this information carefully before proceeding.
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The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is five hundred eleven thousand nine hundred seventeen (511,917). Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years. The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Development agreement (or similar contract for research services) is three hundred four thousand one hundred two (304,102). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is three hundred four thousand one hundred two (304,102). The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Development Agreement or similar contract for research services is forty nine thousand thirty four (49,034). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is forty nine thousand thirty four (49,034). The total number of consumers who were offered a New Product Sample Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is thirty six thousand seven hundred fifty five (36,755) The number of consumers who signed a New Product Sample Agreement or similar agreement is thirteen thousand two hundred ninety seven (13,297). The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is three hundred fifteen (315). The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is ten (10). The percentage of Davison's income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers' products is .001%
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Information current as of April 10, 2009
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This is one of the largest invention companies out there....makes you think about what the dozens of smaller companies are doing.....
