Patent Law FAQS: Invention Submission Companies

What are Invention Submission Companies?

Invention Submission Companies often exists to assist inventors in the marketing, manufacturing and potentially licensing of the invention. Other services include assisting inventors with prototyping of the invention and graphical drawings/movies of the invention.

In contrast to patent attorneys/patent firms, invention submission companies do not specialize in patent prosecution or in other words, drafting patent applications and obtaining patent protection on inventions. Invention submission companies also cannot provide any legal advice in regards to patent validity or patent infringement issues which is in the realm of a patent attorney or law firm.

Unfortunately, invention submission companies have been plagued with numerous complaints of fraud and false misrepresentation in regards to their services. The USPTO allows inventors to report complaints against any invention submission company and keeps public records and a list of such companies. One should carefully interview and get references before working with any invention submission company and is advisable to be represented by a patent attorney who can provide objective counsel to the inventor when dealing with invention submission companies.\

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