Orginally Posted 1/19/06 

The SOLA blog posts have been the most popular on our website.

Over the past several months we have received a number of emails concerning SOLA and its principles. I am not going to share the actual content of the emails because I have not had the opportunity to verify their veracity. Nevertheless, I have no reason to doubt them.

In one series of emails, I was sent copies of emails between a person posing as a prospective client with a member of the SOLA organization. Very interesting indeed.

In short, the gist of all the emails providing information about SOLA or its principals was not positive. IN fact, I have not received a single email or correspondence from anyone defending SOLA except for the defamatory blog comment from one of the SOLA founders as discussed in my previous update.

I would like to take this opportunity to solicit anyone who has had a good experience with this organization to email me with your story. If the story checks out, I will be happy to post it on this blog. For some reason, I do not expect anyone to take me up on this offer.

It is no secret that I do not like Invention Promotion Firms of which in my opinion SOLA is one of many. Concerning companies that approach you with an interest in helping you market or license your product my rule is simple: if they want any money from you (directly or indirectly) to finance their activities then STAY AWAY.

SOLA is a case in point. First, they send an offer to a patent inventor to assist him/her in securing a licensing deal for the inventor’s patent and they offer to spend up to a certain amount of their own money in doing so.

Before they can begin, however, they require a business plan from the inventor that contains certain very specific information about potential companies that might license the inventor’s invention. In my opinion, the information is so specific that it is nearly impossible for any mortal human to comply. But alas, SOLA has a company they utilize that can prepare the necessary information for a mere $1000-$2000. In one of the emails, I received, the SOLA representative writes to a prospective client that the company, Federated Document Services (or something like that), is located in Great Britain and is a wholesale provider of this type of information. I will tell you that I can find nothing out about this company on the web and I personally doubt its existence. Even if the company does exist, I believe it must be related to SOLA somehow and that it kicks back to SOLA some of the money it receives from inventors. I am still investigating the actual nature of the FDS/SOLA relationship and I would be indebted to anyone who can shed light on this.

Presumably after the business plan information is prepared by FDS, SOLA proceeds to contact the companies listed in the plan. To be honest, I have not been contacted by anyone who has gone this far. I would love to see the document prepared by FDS. I would love to hear success stories from anyone who has dealt with SOLA. I would love to know if there are any additional costs on the part of the inventor after having the business plan information prepared by FDS. So if you have anything to add feel free to contact me.

Now, there are legitimate marketing companies that help inventors market and license their products. The problem is their number is few compared to the number of invention promotion companies currently in business. Typically, the legitimate marketing companies will not directly solicit you. To find them, check out these websites: referrallist.com; inventorfraud.com; or http://www.uiausa.com/.

And to find out information about various invention promotion companies and their practices, see the InventorEd website. This sites is a cornucopia of information about these companies. I have been in contact with these guys and soon I will be sending them the information I have gathered concerning SOLA for their files and use.

Keep the emails coming…