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Avoid Scams

Four ways to avoid scams that target inventors:

 

1. Visit the following inventor fraud prevention web sites:

• Review the United States Patent & Trademark Office's (USPTO) Invention Promotion Firm Complaints web page (contains 62 or more individual complaints viewable in your Internet browser) and the USPTO's Inventor Targeted Scam Prevention Brochure -
  (browser based Adobe® PDF document - takes a while to load).
  Also visit the USPTO's Independent Inventor Program Office web site for more answers and guidance.
  For more comprehensive information on invention promotion company complaints review Previously Unpublished Complaints Against Invention Promotion Companies that were submitted to the USPTO, but not published publicly by the USPTO. (This zipped downloadable document contains 92 pages of complaints in Adobe PDF format.) These complaints are current as of the end of May 2007. To review the complaints in your browser without downloading, click here.

• The Federal Trade Commission's
  Facts on Invention Promotion Firms

• InventorEd - Inventor & Entrepreneur Education Website

• The National Inventor Fraud Center  

• Need to find out more information or websites warning about inventor targeted scams? Search on www.Google.com or other search engines using the following terms (or similar terms): Invention Scam/Invention Scams; Inventor Scam/Inventor Scams; Patent Scam/Patent Scams; Inventor Fraud. Beware that some of the Google Ads that come up when using these search terms may include links to companies that have been known to scam inventors. Don't stop doing your background research on a company just because you do not find any negative information about them on internet (or only find just positive information). If you do find little or nothing on a company you are doing background research on, ask that company to provide you with satisfied customer testimonials and ways of contacting those customers directly so you can gauge customer satisfaction for yourself.

2. Join an inventors group. See Internet Resources or our international Inventor Clubs List for more information on inventor groups.

3. Read books on inventing such as "Patent it Yourself" or
    "How to License Your Million Dollar Idea."

4. Subscribe to a publication such as Inventors Digest magazine.

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