Invention Help Companies: Who to Hire and Scams to Avoid

Real invention help comes from three kinds of professional - a patent attorney, a product development firm and a contract manufacturer - hired in that rough order and paid for defined deliverables. Anyone offering all of it for one upfront fee, with a guarantee attached, is selling something else. This guide breaks down who does what, what each stage costs, and how to structure the engagement so you keep the IP.

Start with a registered patent attorney for a prior-art opinion and a product development firm for feasibility. Both should quote fixed-fee phases. Free guidance is available through USPTO Pro Bono, Patent and Trademark Resource Centers and SCORE.

Engineering firms, patent attorneys and manufacturers are legitimate and are paid for defined deliverables. Invention promotion companies that charge thousands upfront to "present your idea to industry" have a documented record of near-zero success and are regulated for that reason.

Budget $1,500-$5,000 for search and a provisional filing, $10,000-$60,000 for design and prototyping on a typical consumer product, and tooling from $8,000 upward. Paying more than roughly $10,000 before you have a working prototype is a warning sign.

No. Sign a mutual NDA and an agreement assigning all work product to you. Most inventors file a provisional after the first prototype, when the description is concrete enough to support later claims.

Related reading: how to patent an idea, choosing an invention prototype company and talk to our team.

Search for help with an invention and the results mix two categories that could not be more different. One sells marketing services to inventors: evaluations, submission packages, and introductions that rarely lead anywhere.

The other sells engineering: industrial design, mechanical and electrical development, prototypes, tooling and manufacturing support. Both describe themselves as invention help companies, and the first category spends far more on advertising than the second.

The difference is visible in what you receive. A promotion firm delivers documents. A development partner delivers hardware, drawings, quotes and test data — artifacts that retain value whether or not the product ever sells.

In the United States, the American Inventors Protection Act obliges invention promoters to disclose specific numbers in writing before you contract with them. Ask for these in writing; a refusal or a vague answer is itself the answer.

The profit figure is the one that matters. Legitimate firms answer it directly. When a company with tens of thousands of customers can name only a handful who made money, the business model is selling hope rather than outcomes.

Note the structure: each phase produces something a different firm could pick up and continue. That portability is the practical test of a fair engagement. If leaving the relationship means starting over, the deliverables were not real.

No. Engineering and product development firms provide real, valuable services and are used routinely by inventors and companies alike. The problem is concentrated in promotion firms whose product is paperwork sold to inventors rather than engineering sold on outcomes.

Ask for the disclosures required under the American Inventors Protection Act in writing, search the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney general records for enforcement actions, look for named engineers and shipped products, and call two references who completed a full engagement.

Most established development firms will sign a mutual NDA and it is reasonable to ask. What matters more is filing a provisional application before broad disclosure, since an NDA protects you against one party while a filing protects your date against everyone.

Phase by phase, with each phase defined by deliverables you keep. Avoid large up-front payments covering vague future services, and avoid arrangements where the firm takes IP ownership in exchange for discounted fees.

Licensing happens, but it is slow and driven by evidence rather than introductions. A firm that promises access to corporate buyers should be able to name specific licences it has closed and what the inventor received; if it cannot, treat the promise as marketing.

Work with LA NPDT: if you are moving from here to execution, start with our product discovery for inventors or talk to us about prior art search.