Invention Resource International an unethical, dishonest company with an office in Iselin New Jersey

In February 2011, I made my initial trip to Iselin, N.J. to meet with a representative of IRI. The rep. at the time seemed very interested in my product. It is a device that would make it impossible to text or talk on a cellphone while driving a motor vehicle. I then signed a non-disclosure agreement to protect my product until a patent could be put in place. 

The rep. explained that it was a 2 phase process with phase 1 costing $1,195.00 to conduct a patent search. I returned with a cashiers check for that amount a little less than 2 weeks later. I was notified of the completed patent search at the end of May and returned to sign a formal 2 year contract for development and promotion of my product. This time I gave them another cashiers check for $8,950.00.

Within the next few days, I received a book binder through the mail detailing the results of the search and why it would be a lucrative venture to pursue. I will now outline what $10,145.00 will buy from this shameful, unscrupulous, miserable excuse of a so-called business. They claim to have sent out mailings to companies about my product quarterly, except these were companies I never heard of. They sent me lists, how do I know they were sent to them?

They promised trade show exposure. I went to the New York Auto Show, the biggest in the U.S. There was no representation and I was never contacted. They promised a CD-Rom of a virtual prototype and/or a working model and I never received either. I was assigned a new product rep. who was in the Myrtle Beach, S.C. office. I said I'd be vacationing there and would like to stop by the office The rep. said that it wouldn't be possible due to a "security policy". 

My story was featured on NBC News4NY's "Better Get Baquero" on 4/25/17 and is available on her website in the archives. Her office had repeatedly tried to contact IRI since the segment was filmed in Sept. 2016 with no success. A few weeks after the broadcast, I received a letter from the New York State Attorney General's Office. They said they would look into the matter but only as a mediator, since they cannot act as a consumer's private attorney. 

Just today, I received another letter from the Attorney General's Office. After 6 months of repeated attempts to contact IRI, they were unsuccessful. "The Attorney General's Office can take formal law enforcement action, only when we have evidence of a business's pattern of repeated or persistent fraud or illegality." What this means is, everybody who has been ripped off by IRI must report it to their respective state's Attorney General. If enough complaints are received, this would facilitate a class action lawsuit that would hopefully sue them into bankruptcy.