Identify Patent Scams

January 19, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

Use the guidelines below to identify patent scams and prevent the loss of hard earned money.

Many fraudulent companies contact inventors via the Internet with promises of marketing their inventions and also promising huge amounts of money for the inventions. Before you hand over any money or information to such a company ask a few questions to help you identify patent scams:

• How many inventions have they marketed over the past five years?
• Ask the addresses, originator details and the patent numbers and investigate to identify patent legitimacy.
• If there are upfront fees involved – stay away.
• Set up an agreement through reputable patent attorneys in South Africa.
• Get the company’s full details and run a background check on them.
• Note that there are hundreds of fraud companies just wanting your money upfront.

Do your homework and identify patent scams before you are scammed. Rather get legal assistance to prevent any financial loss.