Invent-Tech ripped off inventor consulted me today ripoff Coral Gables Florida

January 23, 2005 Sunday
The Virginian-Pilot Edition

SECTION: BUSINESS, Pg. D1

LENGTH: 2283 words

HEADLINE: Is your idea in this stack?

BYLINE: BENITA NEWTON

BODY:
BY BENITA NEWTON and Michael davis

the virginian-pilot

Perhaps it was the frosty air that jolted Charles Hollcroft's creative juices the day his dream was born.

The Chesapeake bricklayer recalls being on his way to another cold, miserable workday when he remarked to his buddy how good it would feel to have some heat coursing through his jacket.

The more Hollcroft thought about the heated clothing concept, the more the idea sounded like his ticket to riches. When he saw a TV ad for Invention Technologies, a Coral Gables, Fla., invention promotion firm, he figured contacting the company might lead to his big break. It offered help - for a $5,450 fee and a 10 percent claim on any money he might make off the product.

"The man was like, you're going to be super rich," Hollcroft said. "He said I wouldn't have to work again and everything. I knew part of that was a sales pitch, but I thought if I could get the idea on paper and make everything look good, I really could take it to a bigger company and sell it. And I didn't know anything about trying to do something like that."

Through its TV pitches and word of mouth, Invent-Tech, as the company is known, has worked to attract wannabe inventors in Hampton Roads. Achieving success is a tough road. Researchers say only 2 to 3 percent of pursued ideas make it to market.

But that hasn't stopped some in Hampton Roads from following their dreams.

After a shoulder injury, Larry Holloway, who runs Holloway Lawn & Sprinkler in Suffolk with his wife, Cathy, came up with the Gas Key Starter for weed trimmers. It would require much less strength to operate than pulling a starter cord.

Joanneatha Ruth Lee's 20-year career in education sparked the Norfolk resident's idea - a device called the Day Tripper that would keep children from getting separated from a group during field trips while teaching them numbers and colors. Lee declined to elaborate on the concept, saying it was proprietary.

And Ava J. Adams of Suffolk was tired of replacing lamp shades when they got dingy, so she thought up a line of lamp shade covers in different colors and designs.

All of them in the past year have sought assistance from Invent-Tech. And all are optimistic, even though they have yet to line up a manufacturer.

"My product will get to market," Lee said confidently of the Day Tripper. "I'm hoping it will be within this year. There's a dire need for this product."

The 10-year-old Invent-Tech is privately held and is required to disclose little information about its operations, although name, address and other basic details are included in annual filings with the Florida Division of Corporations.

Nationally, the company is known among state and federal regulators, however.

Invent-Tech's file with the Federal Trade Commission is offered on the FTC's "frequently requested records" Internet page. The file, last updated in January 2002, includes dozens of complaints from consumers who claim they paid Invent-Tech thousands of dollars to evaluate, trademark or patent their ideas and bring them to market, with little or no success.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's inventor resources Web site lists a handful of similar complaints against Invent-Tech over the past two years. Typically, company officials counter that inventors' contracts do not include guidance in seeking or obtaining a patent.

"As you may know, Invent-Tech is a marketing and development company which does not give patent advice," company legal coordinator Leslie Hecker wrote to the patent office in response to a complaint.

Invent-Tech also settled a suit with the Florida attorney general on Feb. 2, 2001, according to that office's spokesman Bob Sparks. The settlement stipulates the company "will not advertise that they'll provide a preliminary patent search unless the patent search is performed by a patent attorney or trained patent searcher and is relevant and material to the consumer's invention and the consumer's decision to market and/or patent the invention, Sparks said."

Some Invent-Tech clients have signed confidentiality agreements, which threaten legal action for disclosing to anyone, including "any governmental agency or department," any information "affecting or relating to the business of Invent-Tech," according to a copy of one agreement.

Invent-Tech has sued several of its clients, according to records in the Miami-Dade County clerk's office. Bob Lougher, executive director of the United Inventors Association in New York, refers to these as SLAPP suits - Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which are designed to force a person to stop a negative campaign against a company.

Consumers pump millions of dollars into invention marketing companies, Lougher said. He believes the money would be better spent trying to develop a prototype or product.

Lougher, who has worked in inventor advocacy for more than 10 years, suggests prospective inventors try to get on board with a development company, which pays up-front costs to develop products in exchange for a royalty share.

"If they take on an idea, they take on the cost," Lougher said. "They're very selective because they really have to believe they can bring the product to market in order to recoup their costs. That's the kind of incentive you want them to have to get your product out there."

Local inventors named different products when asked which items Invent-Tech helped bring to market. Holloway mentioned a contraption used to open tightly closed jars. Hollcroft said Invent-Tech had a hand in Slenderwear, a type of girdle. Lee thinks Invent-Tech helped the inventors of the Clapper get to market.

"You've seen their commercials," Lee said, referring to the television ads in which a young man whines, "Snap your fingers and turn on a light? That was my idea. But I never thought to get a patent."

In the small print of Invent-Tech's "Invention Research and Documentation Proposal," which clients sign, the company claims no product successes.

"The total number of customers known by Invent-Tech to have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the invention promotions services provided by Invent-Tech is zero," the document reads. "...The total number of customers known by Invent-Tech to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by Invent Tech is zero."

Fran Johnson, investor relations manager at Invent-Tech, said all of that is made very clear to customers.

"Our clients are made aware of the fact that this is a risky business," Johnson said. "There are no guarantees, and everything is spelled out in the contract before the onset of services."

Despite the fact that many of its customers say company representatives told them how great their products are, Invent-Tech's agreement states that it hasn't evaluated any inventions for commercial potential or given evaluations of those ideas, negative or positive.

"We do have a selection process, and there are certain industries we don't deal with at all," said Johnson, who declined to comment on the number of clients it handles. "We just don't take everything that's submitted."

But Invent-Tech accepts a whole bunch, if the news releases sent out are any indication. This past week alone, The Virginian-Pilot received about a dozen releases promoting the ideas of inventors.

"This original idea is now being made available for licensing to manufacturers interested in new product development, especially in the [insert product type here] industry," the press releases read. "[insert name here] is hoping to have the [insert product name here] in full production and available to the public within the very near future."

The releases tout products such as the Goose Silhouette Hunting Blind, Nose Plugs, Supreme Denture Cleaner, the Fishing Rod and Reel Holder, the Fine Payment System and Tobacco Freshner . One guy in Alaska is even trying to make it big with his All American Cheese Steak sandwich.

As part of the Invent-Tech system, the company provides the completed press releases and addressed envelopes. Investors pay postage.

Charles Hollcroft springs from his seat and gestures excitedly when he talks about his Heated Outerwear. At work, where some of his employees and friends have invested in his product, they often pass the time by thinking up commercials while they build custom homes.

"Just imagine," Hollcroft said. "You could stay warm at football games. The kids don't have to be cold waiting at the bus stop. Everybody's gonna want one."

Hollcroft's neat kitchen is quickly strewn with Invent-Tech papers as he shows off the research and marketing materials he's gotten for his money. Although he hasn't seen it, he says his promoters have developed a Web site for him - accessible only by password and with a signed nondisclosure agreement. He has also received his U.S. Disclosure Document Program certificate, meaning the patent office has recorded his submission of his idea.

Invent-Tech hasn't skimped on paper. He has two inch-thick binders full of research and lots of newsletters and pamphlets with titles like "Getting on the Fast Tract(sic) to New Products." Invent-Tech's research also has turned up 13 patents similar to his idea, and the documents are buffeted by encouragement from the company with phrases like "the competitive edge" and "the will to win."

There are colored pencil drawings of his product and even a price estimate. Invent-Tech estimates that his heated jacket will cost $20 to produce and sell in stores for $80.

The North Face, a global apparel company, now markets a heated jacket that sells on its Web site for $600. Hollcroft said he didn't know that product existed.

He has a stack of brochures that Invent-Tech gave him to mail out to manufacturers. His product's name and its description appear on only one side of the tri-fold pamphlet. A general letter inside, signed "Very Truly Yours, Inventor," greets the interested party.

But Hollcroft isn't leaving it all in Invent-Tech's hands. He is taking the list of manufacturers and trying to find phone numbers for them.

Some were disconnected or unavailable, he said, but he has managed to pitch his idea to a couple executives. One was in the wrong industry, and the other didn't have the capital to pull off a project like his.

Hollcroft occasionally voices doubts about the usefulness of Invent-Tech's materials but says he has no intention of giving up on his heated clothing.

"Maybe this is a little bigger than me," Hollcroft muses, "but I'm in it now to make it a reality. There's no one out there that doesn't live for something."

The Holloways express similar optimism.

The couple spent a lot of time in prayer and discussion before they decided to dip into their retirement fund to put their Gas Key Starter in Invent-Tech's hands. Several weeks ago, Larry Holloway even confided in his Invent-Tech representative how tough it would be to come up with the fees so close to Christmas.

"He said, 'Well, next Christmas, you shouldn't have a problem'," said Holloway, who declined to disclose how much he had paid Invent-Tech. "He called it a 'moneymaker.' I figure we might have the one that finally makes it."

His wife, Cathy, said they felt like "fish out of water" in the invention business, and Invent-Tech seemed like a good place for help.

"There's risk in everything, but we had to take the chance and find out if it would work," she said. "If it doesn't work, we'll move on with our losses."

But not everyone is willing to take a chance.

Tommey Reed of Virginia Beach considered Invent-Tech for his idea: an engine he claims is far more efficient than standard gasoline motors.

For a few years, Reed has been developing the device, which uses an external air and combustion chamber to drive a rotary piston. The engine exists only in working drawings; Reed is building a prototype. He insists that the revolutionary technology would allow an engine the size of a lawn mower motor to generate torque - a measure of a powerplant's output - equivalent to a mid-sized automobile, while yielding multiple times the fuel economy.

He has spent about $10,000 on the process, and will receive a U.S. patent for his idea if his fees are paid by a mid-February deadline.

About a year ago, Reed says, he contacted Invent-Tech for help. But when the company started asking for money to begin the process, he bolted.

"They talk this talk," he said, "but they start talking about the money they need."

Staff writer Allison Connolly contributed to this report.

* Reach Benita Newton at 446-2667 or benita.newton@pilotonline.com

* Reach Michael Davis at 446-2599 or michael.davis@pilotonline.

Enticing inventors

Invention Technologies, or Invent-Tech, promotes its assistance to would-be inventors to market and develop their ideas. As part of the Invent-Tech system, the company provides background materials, completed press releases and addressed envelopes. More than a dozen were received by The Virginian-Pilot in the past week alone. Multiple complaints have been filed against Invent-Tech with the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.getting Started

Charles Hollcroft, a Chesapeake resident and owner of Colonial Masonry, has been trying to build interest in his idea for heated outerwear. He has given Invent-Tech several thousand dollars and is on the hook for more for its help. Hollcroft has received, among other materials, form letters, boilerplate brochures and pre-addressed envelopes to clothing manufacturers, media outlets and other companies.

GRAPHIC: Charles Hollcroft displays some design sketches of his idea for heated outerwear. Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot; Joanneatha Ruth Lee is working with Invent-Tech to market her idea for educators leading field trips.

LOAD-DATE: January 31, 2005