American Inventor Services, LLC Wayne M. McGuire Watch out for this guy! Wyoming, Michigan

American Inventor Services LLC a Michigan LLC, and its president Wayne McGuire were the subject of a Default Judgement by a Michigan Court on October 23, 2015. The court found that McGuire and American Inventor Services LLC were guilty of the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) for holding themselves out as Patent Agents and filing patent applications in the USPTO.

The defendants were enjoined from:

(a) Offering and providing patent applications services and/or patent law advice;

(b) Drafting legal documents for other persons, choosing legal forms for other persons, and adding, changing, or deleting language when completing standardized and/or legal forms on behalf of other persons.

(c) Giving legal advice or assistance to any person regarding any legal matter, including patent applications and/or patent law matters;

(d) Acting as a representative or intermediary of other persons with regard to their legal matters, including patent applications and/or patent law matters,

(e) Holding itself out as a Registered Patent Agent, intimating that it is a law firm or leading others to believe that it is authorized to provide legal services, until such that it is organized as a professional company authorized to provide legal services in the State of Michigan or becomes a registered agent with the USPTO.

To read the judgment, click on the link below.

http://www.inventoropinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Default-Judgment-entered-10-23-15.pdf

 

Wayne M. McGuire

The court did not see fit to order restitution in the amount of $8100 I paid in fees and services. It was recommended by the State Bar of Michigan, who filed the case on my behalf, that I file a separate complaint, but warned me that it is unlikely I will recover any money. Mr. McGuire ducked and hid throughout the process. He was served numerous times with papers but never answered the door. On the occasions that someone did answer they claimed he was not there and refused to sign the paperwork.

The SBM hired a private investigator to locate Mr. McGuire and found that one of his mailing addresses was an empty lot in a mobile home community.  He was served with notifications to appear in court on numerous occasion but failed to appear, hence the default judgment. If it were me, and I've been subjected to videos that explained things that I did and had complaints about me filed on sites like this, I'd want to show up in court and clear my name. But individuals like this somehow justify that their actions and intentions are honorable.

But are they? Mr. McGuire has already been taken to court by a law firm that specializes in patent law for failure to pay $8,000 in legal fees. He bankrupted his company to avoid paying the fees. In another instance, McGuire and his company at that time, Melwayne Innovations, were taken to court by their landlord for failure to pay rent. The landlord had to get a court order to force eviction (a warehouse). All of this information is verifiable...simply do a background check.

The most ludicrous of all is in the fall of 2011. McGuire could have settled all of this out of court. I hired an attorney to mediate a settlement for less than half of what I paid him, which came to $3,000, even though McGuire left a voice mail a couple of months prior to that telling me he'd refund every penny. But, McGuire would only agree to those terms if I turned over my utility patent application, which was filed on my behalf by a legitimate patent attorney firm. Both the mediating attorney and my attorney who filed the patent thought that was absurd and strongly suggested that I NOT do that.

No doubt McGuire will deem this judgment unenforceable and keep doing what he is doing, or will simply start a new business under a new name, using fake names like Josslin Rogers, his alleged VP of Marketing. 

If ever the phrase caveat emptor applied to a company, this is it. If you want to pursue a patent, please visit the USPTO's website. You will find resources for patent agents and attorneys who are registered with the USPTO near you.

...because my relationship with the company never got that far. I have an idea for a kitchen utensil and came across Facebook page of the company in question. It had some nice, Zig Zigler - like inspirational prose in the status updates, so I contacted the company. Almost from the beginning I had a sense not to trust this company. For starters, I was contacted by someone named Josslin Rogers, the "Executive V.P. of Public Relations" for the company. I received an attachment with a non-disclosure agreement.

Before signing the NDA (Which I never did), I asked for the names of any products that I would be familiar with. Two days later, I get a response from the same e-mail address from the president of the company, Wayne McGuire. He writes, dated 9/7/12, "Just recently, we made an executive decision to become a brokering firm.  In the past I successfully brokered the first inline skate walking shoe "SkateTread", which you would now know as healies, I also brokered a lil thing called the heater cooler cup which you can find in select GM cars."

Three things are wrong with this quote:

1) He says he successfully brokered the Skate Tread aka Heelies. In the previous sentence, he says they just made an executive decision to become a brokering firm. Heelies have been on the market for several years, so how is this executive decision recent?

2) In researching the heelies, the patent office gave a patent to Roger Adams and is verifiable on their website. There is no mention of Wayne McGuire in relation to the heelies. There is a Wayne McGuire with a patent, but it was for a smoking device and it was granted in 1947.

3) I have found no evidence that proves that the company successfully brokered the heater/cooler cup with GM. Wayne referred to it as "a lil thing" in his e-mail. What president of a company writes like that in describing a product to a potential client?

If both statements are true, and this company really did bring these products to market, don't you think that 2 products in 11 years of business is an awful record? They may very well be successful in securing your product with the USPTO, but anyone can do that. As I learned through a local invention group, you can even do it yourself.

In meeting with that group, I mentioned American Inventor Services. I was advised to stay away from companies like this, be they Invention Marketing Firms, Brokering Firms, etc. The track record is not a good one, and to seek the help of a reputable and licensed patent agent or attorney.

When I brought this to the attention of American Inventor Services, and told them that I would not be hiring them, I got an e-mail, this time from Josslin Rogers. In this e-mail, Rogers proclaims, " I'm glad you did you due dilligence but I invented SkateTread my senior year at GVSU which was the first concept in an inline skate walking shoe.  The patent was sold and there is how heelies came about."

Not according to Healy:

"Thanks for your note regarding who invented Heelys.  It was definitely Roger Adams, with a patent to prove itwhich we own and have successfully defended in countries from Canada to Japan.   Most inventor assistance guys are serious scam artists, this guy sounds like no exception.  Thanks for the tip. 

Regards,

Tom Hansen

Please understand this pattern. I received e-mails from the same address from both Wayne and Josslin, so why is it that Josslin is writing and quoting Wayne. Is he standing over someone's shoulder and dictating this e-mail on an e-mail address that he has access to? He's e-mailed me before, but now Josslin is the one writing, "as per Wayne". What is going on here?

Josslin then went on to write, " As far as you talking to others there is always three sides to every story, theirs, our and the truth.  The truth is I can not please everyone, if a client obtains security from us and sits on their product there is nothing I can do."

I never spoke to any previous clients, only to an inventors group in my area. It is after the fact that I did further research and saw the negative information on this company. In my search, I also found nobody named Josslin Rogers (at least none spelled "Josslin"), which I find a bit curious.

The final word from Josslin Rogers in our last e-mail exchange summed up the nature of the company when he/she wrote, "We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.  I would also like to thank you for not wasting our time. Josslin RogersV.P. Public RelationsAmerican Inventor Services, LLC"

I thought that was an odd way of ending a professional e-mail, but then realized it wasn't professional at all. Then, I happened to find this website and confirmed that this is rather, the norm for this company. I am now convinced that not dealing with this company was a good and wise decision. This report and other information on the internet only confirm this.

So, they never actually rip me off, but had I not done the research and catch the erratic inconsistencies in their e-mails, I too, may be missing money from my savings with no successful product to speak of.

I stumbled upon the video seminar that American Inventor Services uploaded to You Tube. I have an idea that I'd like to get to market, but after watching these videos, there is no way that I would ever do business with these people. Supposedly, this company has been in business for ten years and supposedly a successful one, but this video was so poorly done, and so cheaply made, that I find it hard to believe that this company has any money at all. I got a kick out of the fake crowd noise, and the click if a cassette player in the background when that fake applause was shut off.

Additionally, I found the presentation to be awful, and it got me to thinking, would I want these guys representing me in some board room? I just don't see the professionalism. BTW, I love the part of the video where Wayne McGuire claims to have invented a glove that wipes grease marker off a poster board. My instructor at university did that 15 years ago!

In doing more research, I found Mr. Bauer's You Tube video response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_XMCsiDjpI&feature=share

What a wonderful job of explaining what to look for with this company, or any other for that matter. It brought me here to this report. After reading it, and the rebuttals, I am convinced that this company is not the upstanding member of the community that Wayne McGuire, et al, would like you you to believe, and I am not the only one who thinks this way. I found this blog that I'd like to share, real inventors with concerns regarding American Inventor Services:

http://inventoropinion.blogspot.com/2012/07/thats-no-go-wayne.html?spref=fb

I agree that this is a company that preys on people's hopes and dreams, and I am dismayed to learn that the local authorities and the state have done nothing to help Mr. Bauer or shut down this company.

Mr. Bauer, I hope you come out of this with a successful product and retribution. That this company has violated a federal law and nothing was done about it is astounding.

Grand Rapids,MI-More than 20-million in-line skaters hit the streets each year for outdoor recreation and excercise.
But they are stopped in their tracks when they run into no skate zones. Now a Kent County man is making rollerblading more convenient y inventing a product that can convert your skate into an instant shoe. Kim Covington tries it before you buy it.
Wayne McGuire and his business partner Rick Raimer are on a roll they expect the interest in their invention will grow quickly. It's called Skatetread. It's a 3-inch sole made of polyurethane. It's designed to fit under any in-line skate. Wayne thought of it when rollerblading to college classes turned into a hassle.
Wayne McGuire says,"I needed a product like this so I could traverse my classes and get in quickly without having to put on my shoes, carry my skates. So I went out and looked for a product and it didn't exist."
So I tried Skatetread after rolling down Rockford's trail.
When I wanted to take a walk, I didn't have to take off my skates,
I just strapped on the Skatetread. It fit my 7-year-old rollerblades and claims to fit all other recreational in-line skates too.
I put them to work and did a little shopping. I took them for a 20 minutes stroll around the Rockford shops, even the ones that said "no rollerblading."
Covington says,"I can walk in here now it's okay. Store owner says, "Yes now it's okay."
Everyone I ran into said Skatetread was a great idea and that they'd buy a pair.
Skatetread comes with a carrying bag and cost $39.99.
For more information call 913-WALK or order them online

I am glad that my report allowed you to make an informed and proper decision, but do not thank me, thank American Inventor Services. They had an opportunity to settle this dispute, but they walked away because I refused to turn over my patent application to them, which they had no right to. Had they settled, I would have removed this report as a condition of the settlement, but they didn't, so it stayed up on this site. You found it. Had they agreed and settled this dispute, this report might not have been on here, and you might have gotten hustled like I did. He shot himself in the foot and it cost him business. Hopefully there were more that just never bothered to write about it.

If the patent agent you hired is registered with the United States Patent Office, you should be fine. No doubt, they have ALL the qualifications to get your product patented.  That is the important thing. If not, the USPTO has oversight on them and will take the necessary action if there is a dispute.

A patent search for $400 is a fair price, and you will have it done properly by qualified people.
Therefore, you certainly will get what you paid for, a job done properly, and by people who won't promise you a pipe dream. I paid $8,000 without a shred of evidence that any work outside the original provisional patent application was done (poorly, according to a qualified patent agent). No market study, no nothing. No return on my investment. I also have no guarantee that he's not out trying to market my stuff and taking the pay-off, but I doubt he's ever successfully marketed anything. I've yet to see a testimonial on his behalf or verifiable evidence that proves that he did. 

It must be nice having all that free money, taken from someone's disability check. But as they say, karma is a b***h, and this company will get its comeuppance somewhere down the road.

Good luck. Glad to have helped, and thank you to Rip Off Report for having this forum.

American Inventor Services, LLC does a complete professional patent search.  The people stating my fees are correct.  A patent search needs to be complete and $400.00 will not get you a complete professional patent search, however; it will get you a novelty search.  I'm sure they will find out when they get their results and are asked for more money to finsih the search.  This is called a soft money campaign.  Furthermore, I wish this couple luck with their idea.  I hope the firm they have chosen will stick to the $400.00 fee.  But we all know you get what you pay for.

My wife and I have had an idea for recycling products and  sat on it for years. Finally, we got up the nerve to pursue it. She began looking around and found American Inventor Services' Facebook page. We did a web search and found this report. I am sure glad we did.

We followed the advice here and did the due diligence (Contacted the USPTO, etc). We found a local patent agent who is doing the work for us. Instead of $1600, we are paying $400 for the patent search and that cost will be deducted from the cost of the utility patent that we are applying for.

This report saved us a lot of time, money and headaches. 

My attorney attempted to negotiate a settlement with this company in order to avoid court and attorney costs for both parties. We asked for roughly 40% of what I paid to this company to be returned to me. Mr. McGuire placed the following conditions on us, which we agreed to:

1. Drop my complaint with the Michigan A.G. (The A.G. did not take the case and recommended going to a lower court)

2. Remove a complaint I filed on Ripoffreport.com.

Mr. McGuire then drew a line in the sand and demanded more conditions. He wanted me to give him photos of the prototype for my invention PLUS the paperwork that a patent agency (a legitimate one) filed on my behalf with the USPTO for a utility patent. The patent belongs to me, and thus Mr. McGuire and his company is not entitled to this documentation. In addition, the patent filed contains another item which Mr. McGuire wanted to charge me separately to file. Thus, based on his broker agreement, he is also not entitled to the paperwork because it contains items in which he is not contracted to broker.

Lastly, all contracts and agreements are null and void under the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, Section 297. Mr. McGuire claimed from the beginning of our relationship that he is a patent agent. He's on record in a radio interview as claiming to be a patent agent. A friend of mine at a fast food retail company had a phone conversation (which he will verify) with Mr. McGuire in which he claims to be a patent agent. However, the USPTO has no record of him on file at their office. Thus, although Mr. McGuire denies it, he is an invention marketer, and, by law, must present full disclosure of the following information to potential clients PRIOR to signing any contracts or agreements:

Required information disclosure from invention promoters/promotion firmsIf you decide to use the services of an invention promoter/promotion firm, keep in mind that the firm must disclose specific information to you regarding their past business practices. This mandatory disclosure form is required by law and is intended to help you make an informed decision whether or not the firm will meet your needs.Specifically, before an invention promotion contract can be established between you and the firm, each invention promotion firm must disclose to you in writing each of the following items of information:

• The total number of inventions evaluated by the invention promoter for commercial potential in the past 5 years, as well as the number of those inventions that received positive evaluations, and the number of those inventions that received negative evaluations. In other words, how much experience does the promoter have? What is their track record? Do they generally give mostly positive or negative evaluations, or is there a balance between their positive and negative evaluation history?

• The total number of customers who have contracted with the invention promoter in the past 5 years, not including customers who have purchased trade show services, research, advertising, or other non-marketing services from the invention promoter, or who have defaulted in their payment to the invention promoter. This information will give you an idea of just how experienced the promoter or firm is and the volume of services they provide.

• The total number of customers known by the invention promoter to have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by such invention promoter. What financial impact, if any, has the promoter or firm actually made to its customers?

• The total number of customers known by the invention promoter to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by such invention promoter. Like item (3) above, this information will also enable you to gauge the effectiveness of the firm in evaluating its direct impact on its customers. Note the key words in the last two requirements--"as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by such invention promoter". Be aware that just because a license agreement was eventually secured for a given invention does not necessarily mean that it was a "direct result" of the promotion activities of the firm.



• The names and addresses of all previous invention promotion companies with which the invention promoter or its officers have collectively or individually been affiliated in the previous 10 years.

http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/scam_prevention/index.jsp

Mr. McGuire has suggested to my attorney that he may sue me for breach of contract. All he has to do in court is provide documentation that he complied with the above mentioned guidelines of this law. Violations of this law require ALL money be refunded plus a penalty of up to $5,000 for damages can be rewarded.

Interesting. Wayne told me  that he; Wayne was a patent agent and invented the shoe skates. Turns out he did not invent the product he was taking credit for. He also gave me false information and embarrassed me at my place of employment by allowing me to pass on this false information to an executive for a major food retailer for whom he wanted to do Business with. When I confronted him with this information, he tried to blame it on the partner and still thought he could sell the new stolen idea that he wanted me involved with. Unreal!  Caveat Emptor!

People and site,
Mr Bauer has filled an erroneous unfounded report against our company.  At this time we would like tell the reall story of Mr. Bauer.  Mr. Bauer and our company had a business realtionship that went beyond his ideas.  We did work Mr. Bauer on his own ideas as well, however; Mr. bauers condition started to come to fruition throughout all the projects, especially his.  Mr. Bauer on many several instances halted progress on one idea to yet start another project and/or idea.  Mr. Bauer behavior could be labeled manic which I believe is part of his dignosis.  Mr. Bauers behavior cost man hours as well as transportation cost which he was never billed for.  We had people driving all over the place to help him with his ideas.

As fart as the report in question, we tried to contact him on many occasion not only by phone but also by email.  we have email and phone records to back up our claim.  At one point Mr. Bauer and AIS, LLC entered into a contract to build a product between us and we found out the job Mr. Bauer was supposed to do for his percentage was not done properly, this is when Mr. Bauer was not happy with AIS, LLC.  To add,  I did work for Mr. Bauer and was involved in quite a few of his ideas. At the end we found out at American Inventor Services, LLC that his last 2 ideas were stolen at that point we did not want anythjing to do with ideas which he had stole from other people.  As you will see the reccomendation Mr. Bauer wrote about the comnpany as well as the president.

Rick Bauer has endorsed your work as President at American Inventor Services, LLC.

Dear Wayne,
I've written this recommendation of your work to share with other LinkedIn users. Details of the Recommendation: "At first, I had my reservations in acquiring Wayne's services because I had researched and contacted other patent services in the past, and they had proven to be scams. So, I had some trepidation in hiring Wayne. However, once we got the ball rolling and discussed my ideas, Wayne was very perceptive to my ideas, and went full steam ahead. Within 4 months, I had drawings and a provisional patent application. Three weeks later, I had a provisional patent number.
Wayne does the due diligence necessary to keep the project moving forward...market studies, research, etc. right up to finding the company that will purchase your product. Wayne is in constant contact with me, via e-mail or phone. In addition, a nice friendship has developed and that is a plus because now, as a friend as well as a client, he wants to work even harder to make you happy and achieve your goals and see your product come to fruition.


He has done everything that he said he will do, and then some."

As you will read all the alligations are just that unfounded and brought on by a man who is unstable caused no less from his condition he has been diagnosed with.  This report was intended to smear a good name and a company which helps inventors and has been for over 11 years.

To the site,
Next time you post something without proof you might want to check your sources mental well being and state there of.  furthermore, our legal team is looking into menetarty restiutution, for this may constitute interferrence with commerce.