Inventors: Protect Yourself From Scams
I’m amazed at the number of inventors that are still being taken advantage of in the age of the World Wide Web and the Internet. If you’re working with a service provider (or really, anyone! even a company you may license to), get a referral. Ask your friends, ask fellow inventors, go to forums. Do research. Get multiple opinions about a company. Are they legitimate? What do other inventors have to say? There are people who review these companies – find a review. Is it positive?
I also recommend calling your local inventor’s group, who may be able to refer you to a dependable company or service. They can find people in the business that can give you referrals. What I like to do is google the company and include, after their name, “ripped off” or “scam”. If someone has been scammed, it’ll show up.
It’s so easy to do! But inventors are still being scammed regularly. Surf the web. Make some calls. Do what you need to do to protect yourself. Take the policing into your own hands.
Stephen Key is a successful award-winning inventor who has licensed
over 20 products in the past 25 years. Along with business partner
Andrew Krauss, Stephen runs inventRight, a company dedicated to educating inventors about selling their ideas and the skills needed to succeed. You can ask questions and get advice on the inventRight forum, check out the resource center, and listen to the weekly radio show on inventing. Get In The News, list your invention to have media outlets find you for news stories.
