The American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) completely revolutionized the patent game. Before it came along, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was a vault of absolute secrecy. You could submit an idea, fight over it with examiners for years, and if it got rejected, nobody outside the patent office ever knew. You could slide right back into keeping it a trade secret.
The AIPA changed all of that by mandating that utility patent applications be publicly published 18 months after filing.
However, tucked inside this massive law is a specific shield designed to protect solo inventors and small business owners from predatory marketing agencies: The Invention Promoters Title (officially known as the Inventors’ Rights Act).
If you are an inventor looking for a company to help you develop, market, or license your idea, the AIPA gives you legal leverage. Here is exactly what the law says you have the right to ask them—and what they are legally required to tell you in writing before taking a single dime.
5 Things the AIPA Empowers You to Ask
When you interview an invention promotion or marketing firm, they are required by law to provide a 5-year statistical breakdown of their track record. You should directly ask for the following data points:
1. “How many total inventions have you evaluated?”
They must tell you the total number of inventions they have reviewed for commercial potential over the last 5 years. This establishes their baseline.
2. “What is your actual ‘positive’ vs. ‘negative’ evaluation ratio?”
Promoters are notorious for telling everyone their idea is a million-dollar invention just to sell them expensive package deals. Under the AIPA, they must explicitly break down how many ideas received a genuine positive evaluation versus how many received a negative one. If they give 99% of people a thumbs-up, that is a massive red flag.
3. “How many customers have signed up with you?”
They must give you the exact number of customers who have contracted for their services over the past 5 years.
4. “How many of your clients actually made a net profit?”
This is the ultimate truth-serum question. The firm must disclose the exact number of customers who received a net financial profit as a direct result of their promotion services. If thousands of people signed up but only three made a profit, you know exactly what your odds are.
5. “How many of your clients successfully secured license agreements?”
They must disclose the number of customers who walked away with a real, legally binding license agreement for their technology due to the promoter’s help.
The Penalty for Lying: If an invention promoter fails to disclose this information in writing, or makes a material false or fraudulent representation, the AIPA gives you the right to sue them in civil court to recover actual damages or statutory damages up to $5,000, plus your legal fees.
Two Other Major AIPA Rules to Keep in Mind
Beyond grilling invention marketers, the AIPA gives you two other crucial strategic choices regarding your intellectual property:
- The “Opt-Out” Secrecy Choice: If you want to keep your patent application secret and avoid the 18-month public disclosure, you can ask the USPTO for a Non-Publication Request. However, you can only do this if you certify that you have not, and do not intend to, file for a patent in a foreign country.
- Provisional Rights (The Right to Ask for Back-Pay): Because your application is published early, your competitors can see it before it officially becomes a patent. To balance this out, the AIPA gives you “provisional rights.” Once your patent officially issues, you can ask a court to force infringers to pay you reasonable royalties retroactively, dating all the way back to the day your application was first published.
The patent world can feel like a minefield, but the AIPA was put in place to ensure that independent creators don’t get taken advantage of by deceptive middle-men. Always get their stats in writing before you hand over your intellectual property.
