Hey Folks...
Does anyone have any information (pro or con) regarding the SanFrancisco based IP&R (Inventors Publishing & Research) organization? They are a promotional products licensing liason with an upfront fee structure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
The Crewchief
Smokintire.com

Sorry I don't, but I will recomend you reading the stuff about fraud at:
http://www.inventnet.com/scam.html

Hi,

I've been surfing this forum off and on for a few years, but finally registered so that I could post regarding IP & R. I have a fairly useful (but very-low tech) invention I patented a few years ago (did my first renewal last year). I'm not currently in a financial position to pursue the the invention to marketing and am sort of "sitting on it" for a while, but have been periodically recieving the "package" from IP & R (which I've ignored since I've read some less than nice things about them on this forum).

Today, I got a letter from them saying that they have this grant or something to develop inventions and I'm one of the three candidates for the final selection (only one will be chosen). I was wondering how many other inventors got the same letter (I'm sure more than three!!!) and was going post a new thread but then saw yours. I "smell" a scam.... if they thought my idea was so great, they're free to inquire about licensing it from me - which they haven't done.

Another thing that struck me is that, while they mention my patent by name and patent number, they always offer to pay my airfare to fly to SF and talk to them. I live in San Jose about 50 miles away - and while I suppose SOMEONE might offer a flight from SJ to SF - it's not likely LOL! It would take about an hour to drive to SF - but, what with all the airport check-ins - maybe 4 or 5 hours!! (wonder if they'd pay for a limno up to SF instead of a flight??). So it seems pretty obvious to me that these are all just form letters and they're just looking for suckers to pay upfront fees for invention development. This is JUST my personal opinion - but if they don't even look at my where I live (in regards to the free airfare), it makes me wonder how much they've even looked at anything more than a patent number!!

I've love to hear more input on this company!!

AnneW

Sorry for all the typos, etc. - but you get my drift (hopefully!).

AnneW

Hi Again,

Just wanted to add that another company I've heard from on several occasions is the Millenium Group - any info on them would be appreciated.

AnneW

Thanks Anne for bringing this up.
I am getting the same letters too from time to time from a variety of "invention marketing"(scammers), I don't even read them anymore. They get the names from the PTO lists and send tons of boiler plate mail to inventors, they don't even look at the invention.

My Advise is stay away from these letters or other TV and radio ads; they are all scam.

One of my inventor friends (from Texas) went to IP&R and took his prototype & documents back by force after the fat lady in charge was blocking the office entrance.
IP&R took away his $700-800 and bill him more.... without doing anything.

Hi,

Is all can tell you is be very careful. I have a product I have been selling for 3 years now on the net with a patent and as soon as the patent issued the marketing letters within 2 weeks are 6" thick! I'm still trying to find a legitimate one but that is proving to be tough so we just might keep going it on our own. If you look on the net, you can find a few Universties like Minnisota that will evaluate the market potential. I am in the process of that to be armed when I get bogus "free" reports from the marketeers. The letters look great but when I called a few they didn't even know about my product that we have been selling for 3 years!!

Anyway, here's the scam they do. They give a free market research analysis and send you back a glowing report that they are going to sell 600 million or something. Then, with good expertise in human emotional manipulation, they get you to send $10K or so with promises shaded by fine print. Nothing happens over 99% of the time and you're out $10K plus. The most recent company I called was IP & R based in San Fransisco. 2 letters form the CEO and President with the presidents cell phone number because it was so "urgent". Only ended up talking to low level people, researched it on the net and they proved to be a huge scam. 120 people in the company trying to scam all of us. They brag about 50 successes in 10 years. They probably have them, but how do you pay the salaries of 120 people with a percentage of the royalties on 50 patents in 10 years? The answer is you don't! You just screw a bunch of us on the way.

If anyone knows of a legitamate company that only looks at products they believe in too, please respond. Or I would love to hear similar stories.

Bob Gendron
BBG Innovations LLC

To all of you who are interested in the marketing company, Inventor Publishing and Research (IP&R). This will take some time because I am an insider and very familiar with the business practices of IP&R and their executive officers.

Thanks to InventNet, I have read some tragic stories from ex-IP&R employees and inventors who were sadly taken in by a sophisticated, cleverly crafted sales "script" and a high pressure, get the check at all cost tactics, commissioned sales person. First of all, the sales people are paid a very low salary to stay compliant with California State Labor Laws. The brass ring is the high commissions paid out on new accounts. IP&R has approximately 20 sales people (see their web site). They are all VP's or Directors of Sales? Sales people are required to open a minimum of 5 new accounts per month to keep their job. They only get commissions on the 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12th new account per month. Each month the cycle starts over. The commission paid these scumbags is generally 20% of your money. IP&R keeps the commission on the first five accounts of each sales person or approximately 100 new accounts a month. If as an inventor you think you're getting ripped off just think about the morals of a company that rips off their own employees? If they are willing to lie and cheat their own employees the inventor doesn't stand a chance.

In contrast to 20 sales people they only have 7-10 marketing people. Most marketing people or Product Marketing Managers (PMM) as they are called has tenure of less than three months. The reason PMM's leave so quickly is because they have one of the worst jobs in America. The difference between what the sales person promises compared to actual services the market people provide is enormous. The sales person, using a cleverly crafted, high pressure, sales script with embellished, fabricated false promises lures the naive inventor into believing this company is the best because they have licensed so many products. In reality, nearly every product, claimed to be licensed by IP&R is a sham. Meaning that the company will set up the licensing efforts just so they have something to put on their web site that makes it look like they are making clients money and licensing product.

Two Important issues;

If sales people have to bring in 5 new accounts per month and there are 20 sales people then that means that the company is bringing in 100 new products per month. The average inventor pays IP&R $15,000-20,000. The company brings in $1.5-$2 million dollars a month in revenue. How does 7-10 demoralized PMM manage 10 new accounts per month? They don't! The answer is JUNK MAIL!!!! They make the inventor a one page brochure that is generally amateurish and they mail it out to a few companies and wait for the phone to ring. If no one calls their job is almost complete. PMM often call clients once a week or a few times a month to give them an update. They try and make it sound like some good things are in the works but they know they are lying. This is why employees with integrity don't last more than a few months. Now double this equation the second month. Now the PMM is working on 20 new products, the third month 30 new products and on and on and finally the PMM resigns and seeks immediate medical attention or a new job.

Secondly, licensing? On their web site they list approximately 70 products they have licensed over the past 10 years. Almost NONE of these inventors have EVER been paid a royalty. How do I know? Just ask the inventors. Many of them will tell you they have never been paid a dime. Moving on, assuming IP & R brings in 75-150 new accounts per month do the math. In one year they bring in 900-1,800 new products. Let’s call it 1,000, easy math. 1,000 products times 10 years is 10,000 new products. If you divide 70 licensed products by the 10,000 new account total they have a closing percentage of .007% while the industry average is 1.5%. It gets worst! They have paid a guy named Josh (no longer with the company) to set up a number of phony manufacturing companies (10-15). The purpose of the sham is to make prospective inventors think they have a company interested in licensing their product. The company is called IMAK Product Corporation or some other company out of San Diego; CA. IMAK is affiliated with Internal Innovation Group. This shell organization is now run by Kristle Rose. If an inventor has not sent IP&R any money after numerous sales pitches then Kristle is notified and she sends the inventor a “letter of interest” claiming she is interested in licensing their product. Once the inventor fills out a Product Form she’ll mention that the product has not been developed??? She then says she’d like to license the product after it’s’ “developed”. Then she recommends IP&R to develop the product and gives you their number like she isn’t affiliated with them. Numerous lies, corruption, shills, shams and scams spell IP&R.

Internal Innovation Group is not listed anywhere and does not have a web site? Lastly, when you look up some of the so called licensed products you get the message
Not Found
The requested URL /successstories/images/agreement_jpg/Canguard-01.jpg was not found on this server. I spoke to this client and they have received no money, none!
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an Error Document to handle the request.
Try this yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
THERE ARE MANY DEAD BODIES TO CRAWL OVER IF YOU WANT TO SEND THESE GUYS MONEY. IN MY OPINION, DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MONEY.

"INVENTORGUARD" AT YOUR SERVICE

I have several items on the market that I got licensed for under $100 each doing it myself. These scam companies are bleeding you dry. Read this and pay close attention to the % of people that acctually got any money back for all their investment withthis company. I have posted it below. You can check out the actual page at this link http://www.davison54.com/disclosure.php


In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, captioned F.T.C. v. Davison, 97-1278. As a result of the judge's decision in the case, the judge has ordered us to make the following disclosures to you regarding our track record over the last five years in successfully marketing our clients' products. You should read all of this information carefully before proceeding.

The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is two hundred ninety three thousand five hundred ninety one (293,591). Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years. The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Inventegration™ agreement (or similar contract for research services) is one hundred eighty nine thousand six hundred ninety three (189,693). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is one hundred eighty nine thousand six hundred ninety three (189,693). The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Inventegration™ Agreement or similar contract for research services is thirty nine thousand six hundred forty one (39,641). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is thirty nine thousand six hundred forty one (39,641). The total number of consumers who were offered a Product Sample Presentation Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is twenty nine thousand sixty six (29,066). The number of consumers who signed a Product Sample Presentation Agreement or similar agreement is eleven thousand one hundred four (11,104). The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is two hundred thirty (230). The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is eight (8). The percentage of Davison's income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers' products is .001%.

Numbers current as of March 20, 2006

IP&R a bunch of crooks