InventHelp provides no legal guidance or opinion on the merits of your creative idea. InventHelp is not a patent examiner. InventHelp is not responsible for the accuracy of any patent information that it receives from you or from others. InventHelp is not responsible for telling you whether your idea is original whether it is prohibited, or if it would infringe on another person’s patent rights.
InventHelp offers a free webinar series called “Inventors Roundtable,” in which amateurs are given a chance to discuss pending technologies, problems they are having in obtaining patent protection, and how to make sure their inventions are not patented before they are released. The webinar is hosted by Andrew Hoffman, an attorney practicing in the San Francisco area. The “Inventors Roundtable” is one of the many services offered by InventHelp in an effort to help inventors and entrepreneurs protect their inventions throughout the patenting process. Although this webinar may not provide specific advice on patent matters, the webinar can be used as an educational resource for inventors and aspiring inventors.
InventHelp provides several resources for the inventor. One is the Inventors FAQ Guide, which answers frequently asked questions about patentability, including what is necessary to submit an invention to the Patent Office. The inventorship website contains several articles that authors can use to explain their invention to non-inventors, to answer questions about the invention, and to provide general information about patentable subjects.
One other resource for inventors is Inventors Alliance, which is administered by The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO administers the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which brings international patent offices into the US to offer patent assistance to American inventors. Through the PCT, the USPTO ensures that foreign innovators receive proper protection from generic versions of patented products. Inventors can register their inventions with the USPTO online, or through the Patent Assistance Partnership (PAP), a fee is paid to the USPTO for taking advantage of the PCT.
Inventors can also work directly with Inventive Technology Companies, or InventIVE. These companies specialize in identifying and acquiring technologies, identifying their uniqueness, and helping the inventor get right protection for their inventions. Some of the InventIVE solutions offered by InventHelp are search-and-rescue for patents and designations of international Inventive Protection Organizations (IPOs). Other Inventhelp services are providing patent lawyers to help foreign innovators make their inventions available to US corporations, and to provide additional training to foreign innovators. InventHelp also offers its services to small business inventors.
A key feature of InventHelp is its support of “Invent swarm” strategies, which work much like a lawsuit settlement program for new and inventive technologies. This strategy was developed by legendary litigation lawyer and mentor George Foreman. “Swarm” is a method of filing multiple patents at once to protect an entire category of inventions. For instance, rather than filing a new invention separately from an existing invention, two inventions could be submitted for examination on the same day. The PTO and inventhelp staff work closely with George foreman and his team to identify these “swarms” and to advise them on the best strategy to protect an invention.