PRESS RELEASE: On Monday, September 15, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) will begin enforcing new rules regarding who may represent others at before both the Patent Office and the Trademark Office. These rules strike a fatal blow to the invention submission industry, an industry that has preyed upon unwitting independent inventors for many years, costing inventors hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Both the USPTO and the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have for years attempted to clean up the industry and save inventors from the clutches of these scams. To date, despite the laudable efforts of the USPTO and FTC, little or nothing has been able to prevent these invention scams from legally operating, albeit on the outer-most fringe of acceptability. On September 15, 2008, however, everything changes and the invention submission companies that prey upon unsuspecting inventors will no longer be able to operate.

The new rules deal with, among other things, the unauthorized practice of law before the USPTO. Rule 11.5(b) will make it impossible for those who are not registered patent attorneys or agents to prepare “documents in contemplation of filing the documents with the Office…” The reason this will lead to the complete demise of invention submission is because of the way that invention submission companies and invention promoters operate. Specifically, the scam operators are not registered patent attorneys or agents, but sign inventors up as clients for patent and invention submission services. These scam operators collect information regarding the invention, typically draft a patent application and provide the draft to a sympathetic patent attorney or agent who then spends very little, if any, time reviewing the document. The document is then file under the name of the attorney allegedly representing the inventor. This attorney rarely, if ever, actually speaks with or communicates with the inventor, so all of the critical legal representation functions are conducted by the scam operator, not the registered attorney or agent.

Invention scams can typically be spotted by those familiar with how the scam operates. One tell-tale sign is the scam operator will claim they have the ability to assist the inventor by both promoting the invention and obtaining a patent on the invention. Reputable professionals rarely, if ever, offer both services. Both services are highly specialized and those who provide competent, reliable and quality services focus on one, not both.

Gene Quinn, a US patent attorney with White & Quinn, PC and the founder of the popular intellectual property site IPWatchdog.com, says: “The latest developments in the struggle to stop invention scams is something that is long overdue. The USPTO and the FTC have tried to some extent in the past to stop this fraud, but it has been largely ineffective because it has been done sporadically and never against the entire industry. Up until now the way government officials have sought to stop the inventor scams is by going after one or a few perpetrators at a time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of scams operating at any one time though, and frequently when an individual is stopped under one business enterprise another enterprise is started under a different name so the individual operator is able to continue to perpetrate the scam moving forward.”

Quinn points out that “this is the first time that an all out assault has been waged against those who steal from inventors. I really do believe this is different than past attempts to solve this problem. “

John White, a US patent attorney also with the firm White & Quinn and a former USPTO official, said: “Essentially what the Patent Office is saying is that it is time for registered patent attorneys and agents to clean up the profession. Government has been unable to stop the invention submission crisis, and the problem has been allowed to fester due to the cooperation of unscrupulous attorneys and agents who cooperate with invention submission companies. Now the USPTO is putting the burden on attorneys and agents to report problems and saying that those patent attorneys and agents who facilitate invention submission scams are supporting the unauthorized practice of law and in violation of USPTO rules. What this means is that any patent attorney or agent who continues to work with invention submission companies under current practices will be subject to sanction, which is likely to be a minimum of a 6 month suspension, but more likely to be a suspension of 3 years or disbarment.”

For more information on these new rules please see:

PTO Kills Invention Submission Business

PTO Puts End to Invention Submission

About White & Quinn, PC

White & Quinn is a patent law firm specializing in patent application preparation and strategic consulting. We provide patent related consulting services to law firms, small businesses, corporations and universities. The founding members of the firm, John White and Gene Quinn, are patent attorneys and consultants who specialize in the development of effective, cost-efficient patent strategies for small businesses, corporations and universities. John and Gene have both taught patent law and patent drafting at the law school level, and they currently teach a Patent Bar Review course for those wishing to enter the profession. To date they have taught more than 40% of the practicing patent attorneys in the United States, a total of approximately 15,000 attorneys.