No Holds Barred: IPWatchdog Addresses Ethical Charges
 |
Written by Gene Quinn Patent Attorney & IPWatchdog Founder Editor of the IPWatchdog.com Blog Posted: October 29, 2009 @ 4:48 pm Page viewed 1,077 times 
|
 |
By now many in the inventor community know that I resigned my position on the UIA Board and stepped down as UIA Vice President as a result of my being uncomfortable with the perceived and growing cozy relationship the UIA was pursuing with Invent Help, one of the most notorious of all invention scams. I found it necessary to write a follow-up article stating my position and disagreeing with how some in the invention community were using my resignation to bolster themselves and their own agenda. Unfortunately, the invention community that provides services to independent inventors is full of seedy operators. There are the scams, then there are those who make a living convincing inventors that everyone except for they are scammers and then there are the legitimate individuals and businesses. At times it seems that the legitimate individuals and businesses are greatly out numbered by those in category 1 or 2, and now I find myself being questioned by someone who has long claimed to be one of the good guys, but who himself advertises in multiple formats about how you can make millions from your ideas. Regardless of what Stephen Key says, and regardless of whether he wants to question my ethics, the truth is you cannot make millions from ideas and a tell-tale sign of a scam is an individual or business who lures you in by telling you that you can make money from ideas. You simply cannot protect ideas by any form if intellectual property protection, so there are no assets to license and, therefore, no revenues possible.
The main motivating factor in me deciding to publish my follow-up article establishing in clear terms my position relative to the UIA, Invent Help and Inventors Digest was because of Stephen Key. He contacted my office shortly after I went public with my resignation and wanted to interview me for his newsletter. My staff set up a tentative interview, which is what we do for anyone who wants to interview me. I try and make myself as available as possible to reporters or anyone who has a blog or newsletter. Upon realizing that Stephen Key wanted to interview me, and already being familiar with his demonization of the UIA, Inventors Digest and anyone in the industry who doesn’t have the name — Stephen Key — I simply did not do the interview. Then I started hearing from others how my resignation was being used, and I knew I needed to do something. I believe what I believe and I pull no punches, which is liked by some and hated by others; but that is who I am. If you want to know what I think then simply ask. I do not appreciate being used, and I am not about to stand back and allow anyone insinuate that I am unethical.
In the comments following my follow-up article Stephen Key has been critical of me and the fact that I was ever involved with the United Inventors Association. I am not about to justify myself to Stephen Key, but allow me to state the obvious — if you want to affect change you do so by being on the inside, not by being on the outside. Key apparently has enormous difficulty with the fact that Absolutely New was allowed to join the United Inventors Association. Absolutely New acquired assets from IP&R, which themselves were an invention submission company with a seedy track record, and in my opinion were a scam. Absolutely New was put through tremendous scrutiny before they were allowed to become members of the UIA, and the facts show that upon acquiring IP&R assets Absolutely New fired all of the individuals who were in any way associated with any scam or government action. Absolutely New admitted that IP&R had been a scam, demonstrated that the bad actors were terminated and explained their business model to the UIA’s satisfaction. In essence, they admitted the sins of the past, showed remorse and apparently changed. There was no reason for them to be black-balled other than as a form of retribution. Additionally, all UIA members need to reapply every year and go through the same scrutiny, so it is not like once a member always a member. In fact, the UIA has refused renewal applications when individuals and businesses do not change their business practices to conform to new laws and regulations.
Stephen Key stepped across the line when he started to question my ethics and suggest that I am engaging in unethical behavior. Key said in the comment chain:
Given that I have been in the inventing community a few years and have worked with many attorney’s and patent firms, large and small you are the first one I have noticed that recommends service providers. Along with taking ad money. I would like to discuss this further with you and everyone else at the USPTO about what is appropriate. This way I have my facts straight and not making any assumptions.
I find these insinuations insulting. As if the United States Patent and Trademark Office does not know about me, IPWatchdog.com, what I do and that I am a registered patent attorney. My writings and my website are well known to the USPTO and senior level management. In March Deputy Patent Commissioner Peggy Focarino allowed me to interview her on the record, and in a typical month IPWatchdog.com receives over 1,500 unique visitors who visit us from a USPTO IP address, so knock yourself out Stephen if you want to talk to “everyone” at the USPTO about me and what is appropriate.
Indeed, Key is one to talk given his misleading advertising perpetuating the myth that ideas are valuable. He advertises his “free” seminars by saying: “Learn the secret techniques Stephen teaches his students to make millions from their ideas!” The secret to be told is that there are NO secrets. Hard work, dedication, a good team, listening to advice, finding and ultimately exploiting a market need are all it takes! No secret, just dedication and an INVENTION, not an idea.
On his website Key says: “A Simple Idea Can Be Worth Millions!” I also find it ironic that someone who seems to be so holy finds it appropriate to perpetuate the myth that ideas are worth millions.
If Key wants a fight, then I am willing to oblige. I am not going to roll over like many others who allow themselves to be bullied. If Key wants to question my ethics he is more than welcome to do so, but he also better be prepared for a lawsuit if he steps across the line. I will not allow my reputation to be questioned or tarnished, particularly by a pretender who propagates the lies about ideas being worth millions, which is ironically the same line used by the known scam companies in the industry.
As far as recommending service providers, obviously Key is not at all familiar with the invention industry if he thinks I am the first attorney who has recommended a service provider. Attorneys and reputable individuals recommend that their clients work with other reputable professionals all the time. A tell-tale sign of a scam is a company that says they do everything. Simply stated, a reputable company or individual does not do it all. Reputable individuals and companies focus on specific areas and know others who offer quality services in areas where they themselves do not operate. I personally believe Lambert & Lambert to be ethical and they offer high quality services. They only make money if their clients make money, and that is an approach I find refreshing. If Lambert & Lambert takes your product it is because they believe there is money to be made and they work for free unless and until they are successful. They are highly selective with respect to who they work for, and they have an excellent track record. I have absolutely no problem recommending them or having them as an advertiser on IPWatchdog.com.
Finally, to address the not so subtle and thinly veiled ethical charges leveled by Stephen Key against me, in addition to being a patent attorney I also own and run one of the most popular intellectual property websites on the Internet, and like any other media outlet or magazines I am allowed by law to sell advertising. I take absolutely no referral fees and I pay no referral fees because referral fees are unethical. Nevertheless, despite not having all the facts Stephen Key felt it appropriate to throw out into the open his ethical questions. This is irresponsible and wholly inappropriate, and that is why I am calling him out here and now.
Stephen Key has made a career demonizing and acting like he is the only legitimate source for information. Newsflash to Stephen Key… you are NOT the only news source, and your constant promotion of ideas being worth millions suggest to me that you are not legitimate either. You are one of the folks that I was worried was misusing my resignation from the UIA. My resignation was for the stated purposes, nothing more, nothing less. The fact that you do not care enough about the inventor community to step up and be involved and try and make a difference is your problem, not mine. I will not sit back and allow you to play games or use me, my reputation or my resignation to promote your own agenda.
I personally find it offensive and immoral for anyone to market themselves in a way that suggests money can be made from ideas. If he really thinks that then he is a big part of the problem, and hardly someone that serious inventors should work with or take seriously. Every invention starts with an idea, but in order to become something that can be protected and an asset that can be sold, licensed or used against others to create a barrier to market entry there absolutely must be a patented invention.
Related posts (automatically generated):
- My Position on Invent Help, the UIA and Inventors Digest
- Nominations: Deputy Commish for Patent Examination Policy
- United Inventors Association Educational Series
- Introducing Lambert & Lambert
- Nominating Alfred E. Neuman for PTO Director
- Does My Degree Qualify Me to Take the Patent Bar?
- American Ingenuity Will Lead US to Prosperity
- USPTO Job Opening: Deputy Commissioner for Patent Policy
- Rob Clarke Named New USPTO Chief of Staff
- Falling Prey to Invention Submission Scams
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Share & Enjoy With Social Networks
Tags & Categories
Posted in: Attorneys, Gene Quinn, IP News, IPWatchdog.com Blog, Patent Fools™
Gene, I think it’s important for people to see my response. I have copied it below from the other thread.
—-
Gene,
First of all I must apologize. You know emails and posts can be misconstrued and are hard to set the correct tone. I called your office twice but could not get through to you. Even my partner Andrew Krauss has tried but has been unable to speak with anyone at your office. To tell you the truth Gene I was not aware of your site until recently. It does appear that you have some very good content though.
My goal for the last 10 years of helping inventors along with Andrew Krauss, has been to educate them on the ways to bring their ideas to market. You see for the last 30 years I have brought over 20 ideas to market and yes they were ideas. Most had no protection at all. No patents, copyrights or trademarks. Such as the Michael Jordan Wall Ball that sold for over 10 years in Wal-Mart, KMart and many others. It never had any protection what so ever.
The first thing an inventor does, because of fear, is to build a prototype and spend thousands of dollars or calls a patent attorney and files a very expensive patent without doing any market research first. It does take hard work. It takes really good information and relying on others to bring your idea to market I have found does not work. This is why we educate and do not provide services. I know we all wish there was an easy way to do this but there isn’t. Clearly filing patents is not the answer because the majority of patents never make the money back that was used to pay for them. What I have found is that most people supplying services or advice really don’t have first hand knowledge about how the process really works. Like yourself, you understand legally how to protect an idea but I am not aware that you have ever personally brought a product to market. Correct me if I am wrong.
You are right, there are not secrets when it comes to bringing a product to market. What I have found over the last 10 years of helping inventors is that they have no clue where to start and what to do. I have developed steps, secrets if you want, that takes someone step-by-step through the process. Showing them the correct order of steps to bring an idea to market. You can see that of course on my website and through my testimonials. We are very proud of it. We also provide one year of support with online training and phone support. Also, we have a 30 day money back guarantee. So, I do understand this process very well and feel fortunate that I can educate inventors and entrepreneurs not only in the US but around the world.
As I mentioned earlier I have licensed many products with no protection at all. Yes, there were just ideas. I know this does not sit particularly well with attorneys such as yourself. You are in the market of selling services such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and more. I completely understand. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for patent attorneys and good legal advice in my system just not right at the beginning. I have been in federal court suing one of the largest toy companies in the world, Legos. My topic at the USPTO conference next week will be the power of patents and how my patents helped me with my case.
I must have really hit a nerve with you given the tone of your email and threat of a future lawsuit. Also, being called a pretender and someone that inventors should not take seriously does seem like you are tarnishing my reputation.
As you know I am the keynote speaker at the USPTO independent inventor conference on Friday this year. I look forward to sharing my information and my story with everyone attending. I believe the old method of filing patents and building prototypes is not what works in the real world. Or for that matter contests.
I think there has been a problem with UIA. They had asked me to participate and I gladly accepted but I could not get behind an organization with a certification program that has turned out to cause so much trouble.
I am sincerely sorry that we have gotten off on the wrong foot. That was not my intention but I am sure once we meet and get to know each other that you will realize that we are both on the same side of the fence.
Sincerely,
Stephen Key
InventRight
Gene, I must disagree with your last paragraph. This is an assumption that most patent attorneys make when they don’t have any experience bringing a product to market. There are many ways of licensing or selling an idea besides using the tools that the USPTO provides.
I would still like to interview you for my AllBusiness.com blog (A Dunn & Bradstreet Company). Which has a large readership. Over 5 million pieces of information on the site with over 5 million+ hits per year.
On another note, a year ago because of the certification program Patrick Raymond, yourself and UIA implemented I resigned my membership. Because of that I got black listed from several events. Stating that if I was not certified by UIA I would not be allowed to speak and be heard. Also, that if I was not certified people should not work with me. It was a tactic to strong arm me to be quiet and go along with the program. I think it is very important to be transparent in our businesses. I think it is ok to question procedures, organizations and other service providers. I think it is ok to disagree, so long as we have an open dialogue and move the ball further down the court. Not being part of UIA I think has hurt my business, but I think it was the right thing to do. I am glad you have done the same.
Stephen Key
Inventright
Anyone reading this, please don’t miss the US Patent & Trademark Office Independent Inventor Conference next week. John Calvert will be presenting a lecture on “Provisional Patent Applications and Invention Promotion Firms, Do your homework!” I think this should be a very interesting talk and what this blog has all been about. Don’t run out an file a patent. Please do your homework on any company, service provider or organization.
Stephen Key
Stephen-
I had nothing to do with any strong arming, and there is nothing wrong with a Certification Program either.
I make no assumptions, and base my knowledge on the law and real world business practices. In fact, many companies do not accept outside submissions and many others that do only do so when there has been a patent application filed. The reason for this is because it protects them. An inventor must define their invention in the patent application, and more importantly from the company perspective is they define what is not their invention. Thanks to the written description requirement under 35 USC 112, things left out of a patent application are not a part of the invention and are free to be implemented. Most companies work on their own stuff and do not want an inventor submission to potentially create liability for them when it is believed that the company “stole” their submission. In fact, I suggest inventors think long and hard about submitting to a company that takes ideas and submissions without requiring a patent application because it potentially demonstrates a lack of sophistication. This is also why companies increasingly turn to others to conduct contests and find inventions, so there is a layer of separation between the idea or invention and the company.
Companies do not want to sign confidentiality agreements because they create potential liability where none previously existed. Without a patent or a signed confidentiality agreement ideas are free to be taken and there is nothing one can do to stop another from taking an idea.
It is wonderful to hear you have found a “secret” that no one else in the world knows, and that finds no support in any legal theory. It is also altogether predictable that you would say that I am making an assumption and patent attorneys don’t know because they don’t have experience. That is laughably funny, and I understand it needs to be said in order for you to raise questions in the minds of inventors with respect to who to trust. Patent attorneys have plenty of experience with respect to protecting innovations and with respect licensing them. We also have plenty of experience advising clients what they can get away with doing without incurring liability.
I appreciate the offer to interview me, but I think I will pass. 5 million+ hits is certainly very nice and I congratulate you, but as of 7:22 am Eastern Time this morning IPWatchdog.com has had 62,561,253 hits so far in 2009. Hits is not a good indication though given the definition of “hit.” As of 7:22 am we have had 33,830,975 page views, 1,288,681 visits and an aggregate of 561,099 monthly unique visitors.
-Gene
Gene,
I would never get business advice from an attorney. Maybe legal, but definitely not business. From your comments about bringing an idea/product to market is from second hand knowledge. Gene, how many companies have you called to submit a product to? How many rejection letters have you received from companies that you have submitted to? How many products/inventions have you personally brought to market. That’s where real life business experience comes from. Doing it one step at a time. No from books, or second hand information, but actually doing it. Walking the walk and talking the talk.
Why I am so excited about this dialogue that we have had is because what you believe and many others in the industry believe is why the old method does not work. The success rate is extremely low. I have been very fortunate to share my knowledge at some of the top universities such as Stanford and Art & Design College in Pasadena, one of the premier design schools in the country, as well as other schools across the country. My method is controversial but it has worked for many of my students. I know change is hard but this business is can be very difficult at best. As the saying goes, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
On another note, you get a lot of visitors, perhaps I should advertise on your site. Congratulations.
I look forward to writing about my experience with you.
Stephen Key
InventRight
In my humble opinion, this fight shouldn’t be public and isn’t good for inventors. I do not know enough about each of these companies to really comment, but if Absolutely New could undergo ‘intense scrutiny’ and one could work from the inside to clean things up at the UIA, I’m not sure why things are different with giving that kind of scrutiny now to another company.
Personally, as a fellow Patent Attorney, I would have extreme reservations about attending such a meeting, and maybe I would even end up resigning at a later stage of the game (e.g. if the company were found to still be problematic but accepted into the UIA), but at the same time, I think it’s a bit too early to be lambasting a non-profit organization that provides valuable educational resources to inventors.
Michael-
I respect your opinion, but it is unfair to say that I have lambasted the UIA. That is untrue. I have said that there are good people who are at the UIA, but that it is naive to believe Invent Help has or will change without any proof or evidence. I didn’t resign until the UIA allowed Invent Help to circulate UIA material and the UIA logo in its own newsletter. That was a step not authorized by the Board, and I was uncomfortable being associated with any organization that did that.
Thanks for reading.
-Gene
Gene,
I can’t argue with you about that newsletter (I saw it on invention digest website only after my above post), BUT the UIA did post an apology / retraction about it and stated exactly what you said… that the executive committee had authorized it without the approval of the full board. I can also see how it might have been approved… it was just a request to join the UIA (who needs money), though it was sent by InventHelp without a disclaimer saying they weren’t associated with the UIA.
Still, given that the UIA has posted their apology and surely will be more careful about things like that in the future, perhaps there is room for amends? I’m not sure what good the public fight is doing for anyone involved.
Michael-
I am not trying to have a public fight with the UIA, and I can certainly understand that others wish I had done things differently. Perhaps I should have done things differently. I don’t know.
I will say though that to the extent that I brought this issue out into the open and a new and improved UIA approach will be the outcome I think it has been a very good thing. I personally believe Brandies got it 100% correct… sunlight is the best disinfectant. I wonder whether things would have played out the same without the airing in public. I think for sure many would have wondered what was going on. There have been many who have questioned, and rightly so, what the UIA was doing and why, and some who legitimately question what took so long for these issues to come to a head and come out into the open. To the extent there has been a cathartic event or series of events I think it is good for everyone, it shows that a lot of people really care about the independent inventor and I think it will result in a better, stronger and more careful UIA. So the outcome is hard to argue with (I think).
I agree there is a lot of room for speculation about whether things could have been accomplished differently. I believe the UIA is a good organization, I think the Certification Program is good and provides at least some guidance to inventors and I think the mission of the UIA is a good one.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for reading IPWatchdog.com.
-Gene
[...] [Note: I wasn't the only one who had problems with this phrasing. See IPWatchdog.] [...]