Q: I see a lot of advertisements for firms that claim they can take my idea, develop it, patent it, and market it. What should I know about these companies?
A: Invention promotion firms claim to offer free information on how to develop, patent, and market inventions, which can be a lure for the novice inventor. Some invention promotion firms even claim to know or have special access to manufacturers who are likely to be interested in licensing your invention or who are on the lookout for new ideas.
Know that some invention promotion firms are reputable, and some are not. Before you do business with an invention promotion firm, it's important that you do your homework.
Under the American Inventors Protection Act, an invention promotion firm must disclose in writing the following information about its business practices during the past five years:
- The total number of inventions evaluated by the invention promoter, as well as the number of those inventions that received positive or negative evaluations.
- The total number of customers who have contracted with the invention promoter, not including customers who have purchased trade-show services, research, advertising, or other non-marketing services from the invention promoter, or who have defaulted in their payment to the invention promoter.
- The total number of customers known to have received a net profit as a direct result of the services provided by such invention promoter.
- The total number of customers known to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the services provided by such invention promoter.
- The names and addresses of all previous invention-promotion companies with which the invention promoter or its officers have collectively or individually been affiliated in the previous 10 years.
On the USPTO Web site (www.uspto.gov), our Inventors Support area offers a downloadable brochure with information to help you avoid invention-promotion scams as well as a record of complaints the USPTO has received from the public about invention-promotion firms. The Federal Trade Commission also has helpful information about invention promotion firms on their Web site (www.ftc.gov).
Q: Why did the USPTO discontinue the Disclosure Document Program?
A: The USPTO eliminated the Disclosure Document Program Feb. 1. The program was implemented in 1969 to provide inventors not ready to file for a patent with an alternative method of establishing the date of conception of an invention.
Under the Disclosure Document Program, the USPTO accepted, dated, and retained for two years documents from inventors describing their inventions as evidence of the date the inventions were conceived. We found that very few inventors used the Disclosure Document Program, and some who did erroneously believed that they were filing an application for a patent. In the more than 3 million patents issued since 1976, only 1,330 (or 0.04%) referenced a disclosure document.
Since 1995, inventors not ready to file a full patent application have been able to file a provisional patent application with the USPTO. A provisional application provides more benefits and protections to inventors than the disclosure document, while establishing a filing date and allowing the term "patent pending" to be applied to the invention. To maintain the priority date, a formal patent application must be filed with the USPTO within one year.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office commissioners field questions from Inventors Digest readers. Got a query? Drop them a line at AskUs@inventorsdigest.com, or write:
Ask the Commish
P.O. Box 3761
Charlotte, NC 28236.
