I have my prosthetic invention with them right now, and my fingers crossed. If they work out I think it will be worth it. But I intend to keep trying on my own as well. Their process seems reasonably priced but a little slow. It took almost 2 months to finish my presentation. I am very pleased with the sales sheet they put together. The people I worked with seem very nice and enthusiastic. On the downside, if they really wanted to help people they should offer a less expensive honest review process and turn down 90% because less than that ever make a profit. They accept everyone with a checkbook. The required disclosure shows them with over 2,400 inventions.
Of those, so far 25 have signed license agreements and 5 have shown a profit. It’s not hard to guess where their revenue is coming from. But they’re new. I took the chance.

Thank you for your reply, Marcus! That gives me much better insight on them, than their propaganda materials. I am so glad to be able to have comminucation with other Inventors!!!

This may be a dumb question, but have you submitted your idea to Edison Nation?

Toby,

Are you asking me or Craig? I haven’t submitted my idea to Edison Nation because it is not mass-market. I didn’t think they’d be interrested. I’d love to be wrong.

Marcus

I have previously tried to pose one of my inventions on American Inventor.After waiting 10.5 hours on a very cold Navy Pier on lake michigan. I realized that they were just interested in making a show, and really didn’t want the best inventions to go before the “board”. I’m not saying that mine was the best there, I am saying that from what i saw that is what they were doing. I know that everyday edisons are very different, but that whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth.Besides I do not want to have a “public disclosure” too soon.

I’ve been in contact with them but haven’t sent in anything yet. One of the big pluses is that they don’t do marketability studies (which is pretty clearly a conflict of interest—if you made money by selling a service, you’d be pretty motivated to come to the conclusion that the service is needed).

On the other hand, their position is that the marketability study is really not necessary, since any company that wants to license will do their own.

FWIW, they’re not listed on this watchdog site (at least I didn’t find them there:

http://www.inventored.org/

This invention submission company was fined 26 million dollars for how they mishandled Inventors. You can see this same statement at the Davison 54 website at the following link.

http://www.davison54.com/disclosure.php

In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, captioned F.T.C. v. Davison, 97-1278. As a result of the judge’s decision in the case, the judge has ordered us to make the following disclosures to you regarding our track record over the last five years in successfully marketing our clients’ products. You should read all of this information carefully before proceeding.
The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is two hundred twenty nine thousand seven hundred thirty eight (229,738). Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years. The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Inventegration? agreement (or similar contract for research services) is one hundred fifty seven thousand one hundred twenty two (157,122). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is one hundred fifty seven thousand one hundred twenty two (157,122). The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Inventegration? Agreement or similar contract for research services is thirty five thousand one hundred forty three (35,143). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is thirty five thousand one hundred forty three (35,143). The total number of consumers who were offered a Product Sample Presentation Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is twenty five thousand one hundred thirty five (25,135). The number of consumers who signed a Product Sample Presentation Agreement or similar agreement is nine thousand eight hundred ninety five (9,895). The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is one hundred ninety eight (198). The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is seven (7). The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.

yes, i did my reasearch with davison, but invention home came out way cleaner with only 4 complaints……i have submitted my idea to them, and i have had to put them on hold while the rights of my product are with EN right now…..i did not get to the part where they submitted my idea to retailers….but i asked to be involved in the process all the way….and wanted to be involved in any selling discussions since i know my product better than anyone else….and they complied…..

What type of compliants did you find for Invention Home?

roger, i don’t recall, but they can be found on the BBB…..i saw that Invention Home was on Donny Deutsch, and i use DD as my guide in the inventing world….if he has a company on his show, i take it as a recommendation….and i don’t think DD would recommend a company that would bring inventors in touch will ill-suited invention companies….DD’s professional reputation is on the line…DD also recommended lucky napkin as well…….when i approached invention home with my concerns with their 4 complaints, i asked for explanations, and they were transparent in their explanations about the issues, and they said the issues were resolved…..(if you look at BBB for davison, you will see they have many complaints unresolved)…….and with any company, even with my company, there are customers who have unrealistic expectations and they will complain, just like the people who have complained on this forum about their negative experiences with EN…now, this doesn’t mean i promise that Invention Nation is the ‘be-all, end-all" but i have really enjoyed my experience with them based on their timely response, their accessibility through the phone (what a concept!), and emails almost on a daily basis as my product was being prepared for preparations to be presented to Invention Home….and i like timely reponses from people………they made no promises they can find a home for your product, but they also say in their contract that you still have the right to go on your own to pursue licensing agreements on your own and that does not conflict with the ’contract’ you sign with them………now, i have not gone all the way yet, so i can’t report to you the process….but i will send my 2nd invention through that process…

Eva, I agree you can find something to complain about anything if you try hard enough. I just want to make sure every Inventor learns to take the time to research any company before they jump in with money in hand. The unfortunate truth is that the good invention marketing company with the Inventors best interest in mind is the minority.
If you took the top 100 invention submission companies that showed up in a Google search and threw a dart at them your chances of hitting a ripoff is high.
It is definitely a buyer beware situation.

that’s why i use DD as my gold standard….he is my inventing bible….and what he says and recommends carries weight….if DD had bogus inventing companies on his show, DD would lose credibility super-duper fast….now, do i know anything for sure?…..no……and invention home is bogus, i will eat the $599 and tell everyone on this planet to stay clear of them!…..so i’ll take a hit for the whole inventing circle of people….i’,m already warning people of davison…..

me taking a financial hit, is well worth saving other people thousands of dollars…let’s make it my contribution to the inventing circle…..

All right Eva, I’m right there with you. Their feedback looks like they are working hard for me. They’ve contacted at least 40 companies, of course I don’t know which, and received at least mild interest from 7 or 8.
They have recieved good press from the united inventors association.
I’ll keep the site posted.

mark, so how does their feedback process work?….they forward you the comments you get from companies looking at your product?…i am very curious since i only to creating my page, which was created in one week, because i already had everything they were looking for….but because i am signed on with EN, i could not continue in the process….

Eva,
To see the report you sign-in at their website and go to the marketing section. The report comes out early each month and is like a spreadsheet. They apparently contact companies either with your idea specifically or with your idea as part of a group that fits the company’s expertise.
The report notes if the company responds in any way, the date, and further action taken. These things do take time.

Mark,

One thing you need to ask them is if they are sending out queries to a specific person in the company or to the general mailbox. This is a regular tactic that a lot of Submission companies use so that they can SAY they contacted the company, but they didn’t target the correct person. This gets them off the hook because their contract with you says they will contact companies in your behalf.
I talked with one Submission company Rep and he stated that he did mass mailings and bulk emails to most of the companies to see if any of them hit the right person. I asked him how well that worked and he said response was less than 1% and most of those were telling him not to contact them again.
That also includes the Submission companies that charge you a monthly fee to have your invention listed on their website with the SUPPOSED chance that interested companies are scouring their website looking for that next million dollar idea. Do you know how many websites there are like that and how much time it would take a companies employee to search and find all the websites and them look through each one weekly in case a new product was listed the following week?
No major company is going to waste their time, money and resources doing that when they have Inventors and Licensing agents contacting them directly. Go to some of those sites and look at any that have the amount of views a page has gotten and you will see they are zero. Yet they paid the company to make this page for them and pay the monthly fee. It is a business model made to empty the Inventors wallet.

but roger, it’s in their best interest to contact some companies with some products…..their contract states they get 1/2% on the royalities…..just like EN, it’s in the best interest to take products with the highest potential to the major retailers….i was not born yesterday as far as business is concerned, and i know that EN is not doing this all for the love of the inventor, EN is a for profit company and either takes a cut in licensing deals or charges the majore retailers a finder’s fee…….and i have ZERO problem with this kind of agreement….EN is incentivized to get as many products placed and it does ultimately benefit the inventor….so this is win-win………i feel like writing invention home to get their perspective…..and i think i will…..i want to here how they defend themselves…..

stay tuned!

Eva, EN and EE are a exception to the rule. They actually want to help the Inventor. As you stated it is a win-win for them and the Inventor. the other companies that use a different business model make the majority of their money off of the Inventor paying for all the services that EE is paying for themselves. They do not care if the Inventor product goes to market they are making money regardless as long as you pay. If it gets picked up they make more. Did you read the post above on the Davison company? They are the type of company that use this business model. Look at the last statement in the post
“The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is seven (7). The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.”
I think that says it all.

Hi Craig,

I’ve been watching these submission marketing companies for years. Also I like to read invention books. Some of these people that write these books start up submission market companies. Their books are usually pretty good and I think they start out well intentioned to help the inventor bring his product to market. What they quickly discover is that a lot of inventors are tripping over themselves to give them money. American Inventor I think brought this problem to the publics attention on a national scale. Inventors were selling the their wedding rings, kidneys, mortgaging their house, etc. The big red flag here is when these marketing companies ask for large sums of money up front. There aren’t as many good marketing companies around. Their requirements are usually tougher vs a slick sales person telling you what you want to hear. It has already been mentioned but once but good resource to research the bad companies is Inventored.org. Also, Inventored does a good job at helping to keep large business and foreign interest from trying to change our patents system to suit their interest.

Thank God for the Edison people, they are doing a great job for the individual inventor. I think the Edison Nation open forum is going to help the Edison staff stay on focus.

I love to see all this thought and discussion brought on by my query. UPDATE I have submitted my idea with invention home and was shortly contacted and was told that the next step is the patent search. It is going to cost $399. Being that $1500 is normal on my own I thing that is great.

through my lawyer, a thorough patent search cost me $900………..ps i am waiting to hear back from invention home…..i wrote them an email on friday……asking them a few questions…one good sign of a legitimate company is nice timely email responses….

Hi Craig,

I don’t understand what you mean by “$1,500.00 is normal on my own”. Is that the price your research turned up? The $1,500 would probably be on the very high end of the scale on a patent search fee. I expect that price would include a comprehensive search including foreign patents, periodicals, technical articles etc.

Craig,

I checked out Invention Homes patent search section. It sounded like they were using an outside patent search company. Which in my opinion would be a good thing. They did not mention that the search included or would include an opinion by an attorney on patentability. That is an important question you would want to ask the people at Invention Home.

I think it would be wise to have an evaluation done by a company that just does that an is not affiliated with any invention marketing company. Also I would try and find a patent search company that just does that and provides an opinion on patentability by an attorney. There are a handful of companies like the United Inventors Association that just do evaluations. But I don’t know if there are patent search companies with attorney opinions that just do a patent search and that is all they do. Usually if there is a attorney involved and your invention patentable they will try and get you to let them do your patent. The idea here is to try and get as objective opinion about your invention as you can on your own. This approach involves more work on your part but it could save you money and wasted time in the long run.

Tom is correct. If you use a patent attorney that is tied to a marketing firm it is in the lawyers best interest to give you a favorable decision to keep you in the mix. You can bet with the scam submission companies if the patent lawyer started turning away extra business and gave you a realistic evaluation they wouldn’t be woring for that company very long.
You want someone that is separate from the company so they can give you a valid and honest opinion.

I paid $800 for an extensive search w/ my attorney. And because I had thoroughly done a search of my own before hiring him, his firm could not come up with anything more than I did, therefore I was refunded $300.

Sounds like you found a good lawyer to work with.

Shane Percival, Esq has bee our IP attorney for a few years now http://www.coloradoiplaw.com
Beside being fortunate in that they are located here in Colorado, I have always been impressed with Shanes results, and he will tell you up front if you are wasting your time/money and provide options.

You should see the final document/claims they provided for our invention that we presented to Everyday Edisons…excellent! That is the purpose of a good Attorney, to make sure your interests are covered, and covered completely.

Let him know that I sent you (Jerell Klaver).
Regarding costs, they are reasonable and also have them posted. http://www.coloradoiplaw.com/patent-law/patent-rates.html

My $1500 quote is based on what i was told by an attorney A while back, and I don’t remember exactly how many things were included. That is just the number that was in my head. It is actually great to see what the going rates are. Maybe we should take poles on different services and post the results, for comparison sake. Once again THANK you all for your great info! Tom I will ask invention home about who will search, and who will give the patentability opinion and report back.

ok, i am back as promised….i looked into invention home a little more thoroughly…because i founded my own parent inventors group in my area, i get asked all the time where they can turn to if they have and idea, but no time or no money to invest in their idea…..common problem, right?….so in order for me to steer my group members into the right direction, i did my invention home investigation…first thing i asked for were references…and the funny thing is, i don’t think people ever ask for references….they were taken aback by my request as if they have never been asked that before…but i explained to them that i run my own organization for parent innovators and i won’t recommend anybody or any business until they check out………so, they supplied me with a reference, and i am happy to report, there is another good company out there doing good business, just like edison nation…the reference had her product just licensed out to an informercial company….and they are currently in production….the reference commented on how professional and how available the staff was to her throughout the process…now,just to note, they are not cheap, $599 is the lowest fee, i paid this a while back before i signed on to Edison Nation for evaluation…i still have my product listed with them, but i have another possible licensing deal going on right now…but if you use any company, do your due diligence and ask for references of people who have gone through the program successfully….this can help to put you to ease…..and of course if you go to Invention Home, ask for your own reference…….

I can’t help but wonder whether even legitimate invention submission companies don’t also cave to the inevitable conflict of interest in order to make a few bucks here and there. You know, tell the inventor it’s great just to get the initial fees.

Two years ago brought a bogus invention to a toy broker that also did invention submissions, just to feel them out. They were written up in legitimate newspapers with many success stories. They gave me the whole shpiel on how novel my invention was and what great potential it had. My next move was supposed to be to cut them a check so they could do a full evaluation. It was only for a couple hundred dollars or so. But still, that’s a couple hundred dollars! Multiply that times 20% of the suckers who walk in their doors and it’s clear they’re making a nice chunk of change for the week … on top of their legitimate business.

If they had bothered to do a simple check on Google, they would have seen it was already being marketed. But their first priority seemed to be to get my money! In fact, it would have taken less time for them to do a Google search and let me down than it did to send me correspondence trying to lure me into paying the initial and subsequent fees. But according to the news articles, these guys were legit.

rafael, an inventor would be naiive to think that an invention company is in the business out of the kindness of their hearts….they are all in business to make money….however, i do believe there are those like EN, that rise above the rest…however even EN has to make money to exist…the only kind of company which would be more trustworthy would be non-profits, but non-profits are still in the business to make money for a cause, and sadly enough, just in business to pay their board of directors large salaries….inventors need to do their homework….as well as have realistic expectations…they may have a great idea, but no market potential…and of those that might have market potential, only a small % make it on to the shelves…and sometimes it just boils down to luck, having the right product for the right company….also, inventors need to realize this happens in any business, not just in the inventing world….someone is always trying to acquire something for the lowest cost possible, charging a fee and then re-sell for a profit…..this concept is not unique to the inventing world….this happens everyday, every second in finance, real-estate, insurance, mortgage, medical, educational, agricultural, industrial etc etc etc industries…..and people do their homework in those industries as well…and there are suckers in those industries as well….the bottom line, is that you have to be your own advocate…

Well said Eva. As you know no one will push your product as hard as you would, because it’s your baby. You want to find a company that sees the potetial in your product and has a plan on how to get it in front of the potential customers. That is where the research comes into play. To many Inventors rush headlong into the development phase and start throwing cash out the window before they even know it has a market. They are setting themselves up for disappointment and an empty bank account.

Sorry I haven’t given any more info yet. I am saving up money for invention home’s initial patent search for $399 I’ll post more as things progress.

$25 for an IP review here at EN Online Casting Call sounds like a good deal to me. The initial IP review may not be as good as a professional patent search. But for $25 I bet the EN team can bang up job weeding out the obvious infringers.

In my opinion if it is really a profitable invention you don’t need to pay for help. I woudn’t pay any invetion help company a dime. They tell you your idea is great but only because they want your money. They are all scammers. Look for funding by talking with local government agencies that are trying to develop jobs in their localties.

paul, you are correct for the majority of invention ‘scam’ companies out there….however, i have had a great experience with invention home, so far…since i had been already selling my cinch-eaze waistbands, www.CinchEaze.com, i signed up for $599 to post my product profile into their system, and they found me within 2 weeks, a highly progressive company who put an offer on my CEWs….what i like working with Invention Home is that i am still able to pursue other companies out there on my own…and i have found 2 companies on my own, who are interested in playing ball, and are presenting me with licensing offers as well….so working with Invention Home has added to the hype around my product, and definitely worth the $599..i have probably another 3 weeks of negotiations, but i am in a good solid position right now….and to your point paul, yes inventors should not have to pay money to invention ‘scam’ companies….but what i paid for with invention home was their administrative fees, and that in itself was worth finding contacts for me….it was work i did not have to do…not once did they give me an opinion about my product…they worked for me as administrative support…and i did my homework before using them…having about 15 years business experience under my belt, i have been seasoned to be extremely cautious….and i check out references, which everyone should do…i talked to a woman who is getting a product licensed for doorknobs…it was reassuring to me having talked to someone who does not work for invention home….i did not want to talk to a sales person…also, i checked the BBB, which invention home came out cleaner than let’s say davison, which has hundreds of complaints….yes, invention home had 4 complaints, but when i asked them about those complaints, they were very transparent with me about the issues, and they were all resolved….with davison, look and see how many complaints were resolved….so, this coupled with fact that i asked mike drummond of the inventor’s magazine whether they were a legit company, and his thumbs up gave me the confidence to go ahead and take the chance with the $599……now to be honest paul, i would never have paid $10,000…heck no!….and that is a big, big, big red flag…you are correct paul in saying an inventor should not pay those kinds of fees….i knew better to stay clear of those companies…as with ANY industry, be it insurance, mortgage, investment, healthcare, government, you name it, they are all in it to make money…and there are SCAMS in every industry…..everyone should do homework before ANY kind of business transaction in all aspects of life….

Congratulations Eva!
I’m glad to hear that it’s working out for you. I just had a tough break Saturday, their best possibility for my prosthetic hand wrote back that it was no-go. It’s like getting a red light on the dashboard. It was their best, not their only, so my fingers are still crossed. I’m going to ask them to get feedback from that company.

marcus, so like you said, it was their best match, but not the last…and you never, ever, know whether your deal with the next company might be better…saying a company is really subjective from a person’s perspective…it’s speculative…not concrete….also, one very interesting thing i am learning is about licensing to a manufacturer, vs a retailer who also manufacturers…this is very interesting and has opened my eyes to possibilities i never considered….don’t give up right?….i already had a huge opportunity that fell flat…you have to earn your boy scout badges :)

Thanks Eva,
I’m thick-skinned. I think you have to be to become an inventor. I like this idea enough to go into manufacturing it myself if I have to.
My biggest concern is governmant red tape. Anyone here know how to find out what agencies and government oversite there is on various industries?

marcus, do you mean what regulations are placed on these industries?…what do you mean by government red tape?…i am not so sure i understand your question…..just start googling companies and start making those contacts, and have a bunch going on at once…do not lose any time…my biggest mistake so far was in the beginning by approaching one company, which sounded so promising, only to find out 3 months later they were not interested…and of course it was not their fault, but mine for not keeping the gears moving……..

A thick skin is very helpful to weather the rejections. You also have to temper that with a good dose of common sense and being realistic in your expectations from companies.

I believe a prosthetic limb is a medical device, and therefore regulated by the FDA.

yes, rafael, a prosthetic limb needs to be tested and FDA regulated, but this is something that the company licensing the limb would do….marcus would not have to do that….

Thanks for the input folks. Actually I was talking about if I went into producing them myself. Then that stuff becomes my responsibility. I have spoken with some folk in the industry who tell me there is very little regulation. This is an end-effector, not a prosthetic that comes in contact with skin. The prosthetic arm and straps are standard devices.

However, since I’m not in that industry already, I’d like to find out for shure. I don’t know where to look.

Talk to an FDA attorney. He/she should be able to tell you everything.

toni, here are the invention home discussions…

Eva- thanks.

Hello everyone,

I have been reading(a lot) on the boards and have to respond to this thread since I hope I can help at least 1 person.
Invention Submission Corporation was the company that I enlisted back in early 2004.
They received over $10,000 from me, yes $10,972.16 to be exact. Today I am embarrassed to say that but I had no idea at the time and did not do the homework.
At the time I was excited that a company actually showed interest in my idea.
My experience with submission companies is this: NEVER use them without 1st checking out exactly WHO the founder/owners are and their resumes to if they were at any time connected to ISC.

Information I have gained since 2006 is overwhelming as to who these people are. The names I will not list but the companies I will.

Invention Submission Corporation = Inventhelp or Invention Home = Jacob Enterprises.

Do the homework, they are all out of the Pittsburg area.
There are other “spinoffs” and I have been composing a list of actual names of the owners and affiliates. They hide very well after tending to the many lawsuits against them.
Read this article for one:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/220/RipOff0220867.htm