Invention Submission Corporation, ISC Inventors Beware don't pour your money down the drain ISC is a rip off Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

 

I sold a patent and receive royalties for it until 2025. You are correct in stating, do the research yourself. You can also file a provisional for $120 bucks and that protects you for a year from filing. The u.s. patent drawings are available to the public. You can hire any drafter for under $400.00 for a confidential complete package. I know because I did one for a customer who was very satisfied with his package. It included a front, side, and isometric view with complete exploded details and information. All he or she has to do is take it too the manufacturer and decide on what material to make it out of.
I will be more than happy to assist anyone who reads this with valuable information on how to file a patent. look for a company and manufacturer for FREE!!!! Just email me or respond here.
Do the work yourself and save the money for the invention not the inventor companies who don't care at all if you succeed or not in getting it into the right hands.
Sorry you fell for the sales pitch good luck with your idea.

You are liars and know exactly how you mislead your clients. Otherwise, why did you lose so many lawsuits and change the name of your company. So...keep blaming the consumer...take a look at your misleading commercials and website...AND...get your checkbooks, because...ISC, you will be paying back.

It's plain to see the "paid" comments on this page...courtesy of ISC!

If any of the above dissatisfied people would have read their paperwork, they would have read that ISC specifically told you that getting your idea in front of companies was a very difficult thing to do with no guarantee of success or profit.

Furthermore, their service only helps you to promote your idea-and just that-promote! None of their paperwork I read said anything about the service that they provide would guarantee that a manufacturer would definitly be interested.

So, bottom line is very realistic-you get what you paid them for-their service, not what you misconcept their their service to be. Perhaps if some inventors would get a grip on the reality of the business world insted of their pipe dreams, they would understand the role of these types of companies and get better results.

It was interesting to see that an Invention Submission Corporation (ISC) stooge posted to this thread.

It is a fact that Martin Berger, the owner of ISC had been busted by the authorities in the past using another company name. At that time he set up ISC and was again busted by the FTC in the mid 1990's, and paid $1.2 million dollars as a result of his indiscretions.

Want to learn more about ISC? Specific and continuously updated information about Invention Submission Corporation is available at www.InventorEd.org/caution/isc.

I am the Executive Director of www.InventorEd.org. InventorEd, Inc. is an IRS approved 501 (c) 3 non profit whose mission is to educate aspiring inventors.

We aggressively fight invention promotion fraud. Every year thousands of aspiring inventors are victims of invention promotion fraud. Collectively they lose over $300 million dollars a year. Most people so victimized take three to five years to discover what has happened. To see if you are using a questionable invention promotion company go to www.InventorEd.org/caution.

Information for new inventors is available at www.InventorEd.org/novice/.

InventorEd-L hosts a number of discussion groups for inventor-entrepreneurs. Inventors-L is for general discussions about how to proceed with your invention.

If you have been suckered by an invention promoter and are looking for help in recovering your money or simply to shut down the promoter you should join our fraud discussion group, Scammed@InvEd.org and follow the directions at www.InventorEd.org/scam/ to file complaints.

Follow the directions to subscribe at: http://www.inventored.org/forums/.

You can make a difference. If you want to play a role in crimping the style of invention promotion frauds please volunteer. We will show you how to gather information and we have contacts with numerous agencies to place that information.

Please remember that InventorEd is a non profit which depends on volunteers and donations. If you lack money remember that your contribution of time is just as valuable as money.

Please consider both. www.InventorEd.org/donate/

www.InventorEd.org/

When I contracted with ISC, unlike what Bret claims ISC was very upfront about their success rates. In fact they make everyone sign something called an affirmative disclosure statement that clearly states that in the last 3 yrs out of 6,480 clients 102 had received license agreements. Being that their service lasts for 2 yrs most of the 6,480 clients are still in the program and may still have an oppurtunity to be licensed.

Also, so far ISC has done everything they promised, and when im not happy with something I just let them know what I dont like and they seem to strive to correct it untill I am satisfied. All the materials they produce are sent to me for my approval before they get submitted, so if someone is unhappy with a drawing it is their own fault.

ISC never told me I had a great idea or made unrealistic promises. In fact they went out of the way to explain to me that there is no guarantee of success but they would do what they promised and submit the idea for a good faith review.

Maybe some people are not listening to what their being told and shown. Instead they are hearing what the want to here.

I FULLY CONCUR WITH ROBERT BELL OF ALEXANDRIA, VA. DATED 9/27/04

About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to finally find INVENTORS DIGEST MAGAZINE and the web site: http:// www.uiausa.com. i have found this site to be extremly helpfull.

Once you join, they are continually sending you updates on what the USPTO is doing, upcoming trade shows, contest, marketing solutions, protecting your idea etc... Buy it, you won't regret it... I only wish I had found it before ISC took all of my money, ruined my credit and did nothing in return.

Thanks to Inventors Digest, I have been able to accomplish more in one year than I did with ISC and it hasn't cost me $10,000.

Inventors, save your money... Go to Inventor's Digest and use the tips and mentoring help they provide.

As for James in Cleveland, Ohio. "get a life" you are living in a fairytale. ISC is a virtual nightmare....

Two excellent resources for solo inventors are the United Inventors Association:

http://www.uiausa.com/

and Inventor's Digest Magazine:

http://www.inventorsdigest.com/ME2/default.asp

Both are dedicated to serving the needs of solo inventors and have lots of helpful advice for individual inventors. Subscribe to Inventor's Digest Magazine if you are serious about developing an invention.

My advice to most inventors is to put your money in the bank and forget about developing an invention unless you really have the time and energy to do so. You cannot hand this task off to a company and realisitically expect them to make you a millionaire. You have to do all the hard work.

As Edison said, inventing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. There are no inventors who just came up with an idea and made millions - they all had to work hard to develop and market their ideas and get them accepted.

The idea that you can come up with an idea and have someone just hand you a check is an Urban Legend. It just isn't true. Sorry.

Inventions for products that are only marginal improvements over existing products are particularly hard to make money from. People will often not pay extra for only incremental improvements. Price sells a lot of products, not innovation.

The inventors I have represented who are successful are the ones who realistically assess the value of their own inventions (hard to do!) and spend the time, money, and effort THEMSELVES to develop, market, and promote their inventions.

Raw ideas on paper are rarely sucessful.

I cannot comment on the specific company mentioned here, only to say that you should read any contract carefully and do not sign anything that you do not understand, and do not rely upon verbal promises. It takes two to tango!

Disclaimer: I am a Patent Attorney, and I do advertise in Inventor's Digest and am a member of USUIA. At the present time, however, I am not taking on any new clients, so please do not call or e-mail asking for assistance.

Good luck with your endeavors!

Regards,

In 2002 I met with a rep from ISC and before I knew it I was signed up with them to represent me and my invention. the cost: $8,000 dollars cash, my life savings. now 2 years later I got what I paid for. a kick in the pants and and introduction into the world of scammism.
what a sucker I was to beleive they would help me realize my dream. 2 mos after paying them the money I got a drawing of my product which they would summit to industry. I was hurt and disappointed.
I knew then I had made a grieve mistake and would pay for my lack of common sense. the drawing was amaturist and comical.
I prayed for a miracle. it only got worst. every few months I received from ISC a list of potiental companies who might be interested in my invention and whow they said they contacted directly.
what a joke. the list was nothing but names anyone could have gotten out of a trade book. I never got a response from one company that even made a commit about my invention.
needless to say I am quiet sure letters to these companies were never mailed, and since I have know way of proving they ever were or were not I have to take ISC's word for it.
I wish I would have had the benefit of ripoff report to check ISC out before making this costly mistake. scam artist and preditors like ISC count on people like me who have hopes and dreams. I am very surprised the feds the ftc or the news media have'nt gotten involved to stop these monsters.

My husband called this Co. 3 yrs ago. All we got was harrassing phone calls, and a woman wanting lots of money. I knew it was a bunch of CRAP! She said we had only so much time to get back to her. Her office was locally located on Harrahan! We didn't go any further than that! DO NOT call these people! They're probably stealing Everyone's ideas that are being submitted! I Hate Crooks like this! BEWARE!!!!

I submitted an invention to ISC and they called me and told me my invention was great. Yeah right, it sucked bad. After I told them I was in school and couldn't afford to pay them anything, I never heard from them again. I assume that once you tell them you don't have any money, you get taken off their list of potential suckers.

The rebuttal from the guy with the nephew......hah....are you on something? You probably work for that company or own that company if you are saying stuff like that. Nice story dude. Way to insult someones spelling and grammer. That's got to hurt. You must have made that person almost cry (almost). HAH.

ISC is a joke of a company that has no morals. Ever hear of morals ISC? ISC sucks and I hope companies likes this get what they deserve in the end.

The biggest scam issue with the subject company and others like it is the fact they NEVER declare anyone's 'product' unmarketable. They've never seen an idea or invention they won't go wild over and suggest a full market report, prototyping, patent record research, etc. etc.
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Sort of like Bernard Haldane's "we're very selective on the clients we accept". SOLE qualification in both cases? Money. And lots of it. Spelled s-u-c-k- y-o-u d-r-y, then declare their obligations have been fully executed. Bye! See ya! Good luck!......Next?...Step right in.
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James a shill? Probably.

Invention Submission Corp

WARNING (is a 7 letter word)

Like everyone, there are some public service things I just have to say.

This is strictly my opinion based on things that happened to Norm and I. In short, if you are an inventor, do yourself a favour and do not approach these types of companies. You will save yourself thousands of dollars and a lot of pain.

That being said, I can only tell you about my experience with one of them, ISC. Invention Submission Corporation is a "company" that is suppose to help get your product to market1 industry. My product is Chess Plus. It's a four player chess game that was based on some great ideas and intentions.

We even got some shareholders to go in. We went to ISC in the hopes that our game can get to market, but what happened was emotionally and financially devastating.

Truths:

ISC gets less than 2% of games to market (30/2000)

An measly 8 out of those 2000 products made back the money they spent on ISC's fees

ISC doesn't really approach companies, except to sell their services. They don't need to actually have your product during trade shows, because they put it in their catalog to show at shows.

However, do the companies at the trade show even look through that book? I don't know, but my guess is no. ISC is too busy pushing the company to sign up for their database.

ISC does not follow up on any publicity mailings it sends out

ISC was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for unfair trade practices.
ISC won't even give you the name of their president.

This may sound like sour grapes and bitching, and it is. But Norm, many investors and myself are out thousands of dollars because of ISC.

On February 27, 2002, I was contacted by Nora Miller at ISC (1-800-622-9855 ex 1348 if you want to call her and say hi). Officially (of course) she called as a mid-point between myself and their legal department. Apparently they also saw this page on the internet and well, they want me to take it down.

I bet if this was a glowing testimony, they wouldn't have a thing to say.

Nora was nice enough to correct me on syntax. She said 'we never ever use the word market, we submit your product to industry'. As such, in fairness, I have changed the word market to industry. (see 1 ). Will ISC ever volunteer details of how many products actually get signed to an agreement. Of course not. If you had a company that really didn't have a high percentage of adding value, would you advertise that? Probably not.

The really funny thing about ISC is this. Their revenue stream is us, inventors. We pay the fees. However, their corporate goals is not to support their revenue stream (help get our product to industry), but to populate their database. To me, someone who has been associated in the business world for 8 years, your goals and your revenue stream should be tied together.

Let's look at an example. The post office. Their revenue stream is customers who buy stamps and use their service. Their high-level business goals is to deliver mail. Now, what if you, as a customer of the post office, bought a stamp to put on your letter. However, this post office, let's call it the ISCPS doesn't have the business goal to actually deliver your letter, but merely to get convenience stores to sell stamps. So, you pay them to deliver your letter, but they take your money, take your letter, put it somewhere (where they don't actually say they will actually deliver it) and take your money to try to get stores to sell more and more stamps.

Would you use this postal service? Probably not.

I have been fortunate enough to get 4 emails thanking me for having this page up. People that were researching Invention Submission type companies and amidst a lot of advertising, they found me.

September 28, 2002. I am pleased to say the number of responses is now up to 20. Some of those people were doing research on the company and were lucky enough not to have paid any fees, some of them unfortunately have paid their fees and received no value.

I am approaching some of the people that paid money to see if I can post their email to me (anonymously of course)



What to do if you are an Inventor.

Since this is the question that I am asked most, I will list it here.

My first recommendation always is to contact a patent lawyer and investigate if your idea or product can be patented/copyrighted or trademarked. (Incidentally, ISC will tell you not to do this, they did that to me. Why???? Well, perhaps a lawyer would tell you not to deal with ISC? Perhaps.)

A patent lawyer, who likely won't charge you for a first visit, will give you background on what the process is to protect yourself. He/She will also say what protection your idea can have.

They can also give you a blanket confidentiality agreement, which you can ask any person or group to sign, so you can discuss your idea to an interested party.

Then, it's criticism time. You need to take a really hard look at your idea. Identify

who will use this product/idea
is it re-useable, or will there be repeat buyers
is it an improvement on an existing idea
what group of people would be interested in this idea.
what is a reasonable price for this idea/product
how much would it cost to produce this.

Based on these answers, you need to decide whether to approach a company that will buy your idea, or do it yourself.

I believe in hindsight, I made an error. I didn't want a company (like Parker Brothers) to make millions, while I got relatively little. I didn't realize that on my own, I could only sell 300 games. A quality company like Parker Brothers (or similar) has the marketing department, existing supply contracts and tons of people that could take this game on.

[Parker Brothers, if you are listening, email me. :)]

I still want to hear from you, whether you have good or bad experiences with ISC, please email me if you like.

In response to the aformentioned complaint about ISC, never mind the numerous misspellings and improper grammar, I found the services provided to my nephew by ISC to be accurate and professional.

Perhaps the so called "inventor" should be complaining about the "quality" of his invention instead of "shooting" the messenger".!!!!!

In response to the aformentioned complaint about ISC, never mind the numerous misspellings and improper grammar, I found the services provided to my nephew by ISC to be accurate and professional.

Perhaps the so called "inventor" should be complaining about the "quality" of his invention instead of "shooting" the messenger".!!!!!

In response to the aformentioned complaint about ISC, never mind the numerous misspellings and improper grammar, I found the services provided to my nephew by ISC to be accurate and professional.

Perhaps the so called "inventor" should be complaining about the "quality" of his invention instead of "shooting" the messenger".!!!!!

In response to the aformentioned complaint about ISC, never mind the numerous misspellings and improper grammar, I found the services provided to my nephew by ISC to be accurate and professional.

Perhaps the so called "inventor" should be complaining about the "quality" of his invention instead of "shooting" the messenger".!!!!!