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Patent Office Warns of The Perils of Using Unscrupulous Invention Promoters
Sean Dennehey, Director of Patents at The Patent Office, explained on BBC One’s Watchdog yesterday (Tuesday, 28 September) that inventors should be wary when enlisting the help of an invention promoter.
The "help" of some promoters can be a costly mistake.
Invention promotion firms offer to help you evaluate, develop and market your idea but first you have to be clear about whether you have made the right choice of firm. Some inventors find themselves broke and without proper intellectual property protection after using the services of a rogue invention promoter,” says Sean.
Good invention promoters will reject most of the inventions pitched to them, only taking on those inventions in which they have faith. The less reputable promoters heap praise on inventors to encourage them to part with cash for hopeless ideas. If the promoter is leaving the bulk of the financial risk with the inventor then perhaps they don’t believe that success is likely.
Sean Dennehey offers the following advice to inventors who are considering using an invention promoter:
1. Do you need the services of an invention promoter? Try to do as much research for yourself as possible. The Patent Office website and the Intellectual Property Portal can provide you with lots of background information on patents, trade marks, design registrations and copyright. Using an invention promoter is just one of the many ways to market your new products or ideas.
2. If you decide to approach an invention promoter, make sure that details of your invention are kept confidential. Disclosing how the invention works without a confidentiality agreement will harm any future patent application.
3. Before you hand over any money or sign an agreement, ask the promoter about the stages involved in promoting your product such as research, marketing and licensing, and any associated costs.
4. As with any company that you might employ to work for you, check the promoter’s credentials. Request evidence of their skills, expertise and success rate. You could ask to see their references from previous clients.
5. Most good invention promotion firms would have rejected lots of ideas in the first assessment stage as not being commercially viable. Find out what percentage the firm has rejected as evidence of how seriously they look into inventions.
6. If they offer services such as a patent search or market assessment, see if they provide these for the countries in which you would like to market your invention. You can check the competitiveness of their patent search costs by comparison with The Patent Office’s Search and Advisory Service.
7. Make sure that their search is comprehensive because an invention must be new if a patent is to succeed. Over 30 million published patent applications from around the world can be viewed for free from the esp@cenet patent database on the Patent Office website. This will tell you if your “new” idea has been invented before!
8. Check for evidence that they know the sector for your product and have contacts with manufacturers. Ask for proof if they claim to represent manufacturers on the look-out for new product ideas.
9. Ask if their patent professional is registered with The Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (CIPA), the professional body for patent attorneys. See CIPA’s website for further information.
10. Direct any complaints on invention promoters to the Office of Fair Trading for investigation.
For more information about patent, trade marks, design registrations and copyright, visit The Patent Office web site at www.patent.gov.uk or the Intellectual Property Portal at www.intellectual-property.gov.uk or ring 08459 500 505.
