Patent schemes fleece inventors
By AKWELI PARKER, Knight-Ridder
First published: Sunday, June 25, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Sandwiched between the pitches for videos of young women "gone wild" and skin blemish eliminators, insomniac TV viewers may also notice temptations from firms that claim they will turn your ideas into money-earning inventions.
Savvy inventors say it's best to just change the channel.
Scam artists outweigh the good guys 100-to-1 said Jeffrey Dobkin, a marketing consultant and a director of the Philadelphia-based American Society of Inventors.
"We had one guy who spent $23,000 with a patenting scheme company," and wound up with nothing to show for it, Dobkin said.
Tracking the industry is an inexact science since many of the companies open and close quickly.
But there are dozens, if not hundreds of them, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office estimated in 2002 that consumers lost $200 million a year to the schemes. Experts say it likely has gone up since then.
Dobkin said that after an inventor calls seeking help with his creation, the companies ensnare their prey using a combination of sweet talk and escalating financial commitment on the part of their mark:
"They say, 'Don't tell us, we don't want to steal your idea.'
"They say, 'This is so great, we've never heard of a mousetrap. ... We'll do an investigation of the industry,' and charge you $500.
"They give you a leather book -- it's full of all boilerplate -- rather than a true custom analysis."
Next, Dobkin said, they promise, " 'We'll do a patent search,' and they'll charge, well, whatever they think you'll pay.
"They'll 'alert the industry,' and that costs $3,000.
"They keep fleecing you until you're out of money."
Full story.
