How to Use a Patent Promotion Organization

Patent promotion organizations are private companies that promise inventors they will help to patent an idea or promote an already patented idea or product by marketing it to the right people. Buyer beware, however. The Federal Trade Commission has not found many of these groups to be legitimate organizations that actually help inventors. Follow these steps to decide if a company offering this service is genuine and effective.

Things You'll Need

• Better Business Bureau

Instructions

1. Do your homework before you use any patent promotion organization. Check with the Better Business Bureau and the chamber of commerce in your area to see if anyone has registered a complaint against the group (see the Resources section below). The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also publishes complaints against patent promoters, although it takes no action against them and does not investigate the complaints (see Resources below).

2. Ask the organization for a list of references of other people and companies they've helped. If they cannot provide this, do not continue the relationship.

3. Contact all the references listed if the organization gives you a list. Ask about the idea or product in question in each case, and ask for specific information on the promotion done. Ask what the results were and whether or not the person or company was happy with the results. Note that a well-devised conning organization will provide a list of references that are not legitimate.

4. Ask enough questions to satisfy yourself that the references are indeed legitimate so you can conclude that the organization in question is effective at patent promotion. Just checking up on an organization can take several days.

Tips & Warnings

• Look for public industrial development organizations in your area that are locally financed. These are designed to help local entrepreneurs succeed. Another legitimate avenue for promotion of your patent and invention is the Small Business Administration, or SBA (see Resources below). They feature an entire department devoted to helping small business owners market and promote themselves and their products and services.

• Never hand over money to anyone for the promotion of your patent or idea unless you have already seen results and have a written agreement. Too many inventors fall prey to the dollar signs that many so-called patent promotion organizations promise. You can lose large sums of money on patent promotion schemes.

• Patent law is quite complex. Do not attempt to patent an invention without the assistance of a patent attorney.