InventionHome, Jacob Enterprises or the patent company RG Patent Consulting They did a patent search leaving off an idea exactly like mine so I would pay the marketing fee.

Two years ago, I came up with what I thought was a one of a kind idea.  I did not know where to start and found Invention Home/Jacob Enterprises.  They were very responsive and I was excited to get started.  The first step is to pay $319 for a patent search to ensure there are no like or similar ideas out there.  It was a bit expensive, but I trusted them to do a thorough search and if nothing came back matching my item I would move forward.  

I worked with Denise who explained, many times ideas come back matching the item and we can make the necessary changes to move forward.  The patent attorney came back with 5 of the closest ideas they could find.   Great, nothing came back like my idea. I was very excited to move forward.   I then gave them over $2,300 for one of their marketing packages, which is them selling your idea to potential companies interested and building you a selling package.

Close to a year later when my provisional patent was nearing its expiration I had a company interested in my idea and so I needed to file a non provisional to further protect myself.  When I went to another company to seek out a non provisional, he instantly came back saying he could not do it as there is an idea almost identical to my idea that was put in place six years prior to my idea.  I looked at the patent and could not believe my eyes.  

InventionHome/Jacob Enterprises missed this patented idea.   I emailed them back letting them know my frustrations and they said, "We do encourage our clients to research their ideas to see if there are similar products on the market prior to spending any money. A patent search is recommended so the client can get a sense of what "prior art" exists that is patented.

The letter from the patent attorney with your search results does disclaim the fact that with millions of issued patents it is impossible to guarantee that EVERY relevant patent is included. They provided a list of the "most relevant art" that they found during their search. I'm sure it was explained to you up front that the Invention Home staff does NOT offer opinions as to the patentability or the marketability of any inventions; however, we do give our clients the tools to make their own, educated decision."

So if you are deciding to pay $319 to have them do your patent search, I would highly advise you not to.  They will tell you your idea does not exist so they can have you pay a huge marketing expense.  Even if this was missed somehow (which my patent attorney was floored by), I would think they would take some blame on not finding this.  Of course if your idea already exists, you would not pay over $2,300 to move forward.  

Stay away from this company.