EdisonNation review: 25 Million Dollar Rip Off 62

Hi! I feel like I have a great idea for the food and beverage industry. I've done all my research, including a patent search for my product. I've been researching for years now, trying a way to figure it out on my own, but I've learned I can't afford too or couldn't find any REAL investors. So I've decided to try a company like Edison Nation maybe. Are there any real people out there who were successful with this company? If so, I would like to chat with you please, please, please! Email me at mikej.allen@comcast.net, Thanks..

Hello all, I've submitted quite a number of inventions to Edison Nation... here are my thoughts:

Before submitting I did some lurking in the forums to try to get a handle on the company and what they propose to provide. I certainly was leery about sending off any of my inventions for fear of a rip off. Although I did find some disgruntled members, generally most seem to be happy with the system. The real clincher for me is what the company has managed to build that seems to support a legitimate business model that would be destroyed by improper conduct. Not only have they been able to attract large companies, and well known people for the specific product searches (as you mentioned MissMolly2), but they have been able to develop a television program based on the invention process and winning product ideas.

I'm not saying that there haven't been any slip ups, because I don't know, but let's put it this way: If you had the opportunity to have 50% (thier take) on an unlimited number of marketable ideas or take 100% of a few, what would you choose?

I would suggest that a stolen invention may or may not have occurred at some point, or that perhaps there still exists the possibility that it could happen again; but Edison Nation has been able to build an amazing business model (unlike other invention companies) that would not only survive but produce an astounding amount of revenue for the company, but only if they were legitimate.

For me, I've done enough research to know how difficult bringing a product to market is and how many false invention companies there are. If I were to remain safe, I'd keep all my inventions to myself and continue in the hope that one day I will be able to find the time and money and attempt to bring one to market myslef. Now that's fantasy.

On the other hand, I've used up at least half my time on this planet... Times running out, and Edison Nation appears to be my best bet.

Worldtraveled1, I agree with you that if it truly happened, even once, it is too many times. For this reason, I recommend that an inventor move quickly to commercialize his/her own product concept. There is no fairy godmother/father who is truly interested in seed stage funding. "Submit your idea and watch a miracle happen" is puffery advertising at best, gets the attention of dreamers, and misleading for the naive. First to market successfully, carries a lot of weight. If all one has is an idea, it isn't worth anything until someone does something with it that makes it commercially viable.

Again, I emphasize that many people are creating solutions for the same problem. It happens all the time and I see it when I do research for inventors to determine feasibility for moving forward.

Bonnie, I agree with the fact that it takes a lot of hard work and determination in order to get any business off the ground and that inventing - rather bringing a product to market is much akin to making a business successful. However, this 'submit your idea and watch a miracle happen' concept is JUST what Edison Nation is proposing with their inventor competitions. 'Submit your idea and if chosen, you will receive compensation. Reading some of the experiences from some of the people who submitted their ideas only to have them stolen out from under them is a horrific nightmare! Even if this type of thing only has happened to a hand full of EN submissions...really...isn't this happening ONE TIME too many times?! I am a creative productive person and I understand how they must have felt. I, too, loathed the non-producers whose sole profit core is from stealing from creative producers and fattening their own pockets without paying any compensation to the one who initiated the idea, etc. Keep your heads up, my fellow producers of the world! Karma always catches up.

Edison Nation and Louis Foreman do not run a non-profit organization. None of Louis Foreman's at least 5 companies are non-profit. If you are unwilling or unable to pursue your own invention, then you can't complain if someone else is offering the opportunity and expects to earn a very generous profit from doing so. That is business and why those who have money tend to make more money.

Jen, Venting, and Ideas, need to educate themselves about the ins and outs of the inventing process through a non-profit educational association [local inventors organization or the United Inventors Association (501 (c)(3) non-profit (www.uiausa.org)] because their comments are naive at best. Be ware of those that claim they are there for educating the inventor but are just a front for a profit-making company. Look for educational inventor organizations listed on the United Inventors Association's website.

Inventing, like starting any business, is a high risk endeavor and the vast majority fail in the first year. Inventors' product ideas tend to fail at an even greater rate than traditional start-up businesses. Even the products that Edison Nation has invested in and taken to market on behalf of inventors have not succeeded as well as one might think. It is not easy or everyone would do it. Foreman's companies make money in other ways. He is an excellent promoter and knows how to leverage technology. I give him credit for that. Don't ask him to donate to your favorite charity...you will pay him for the right to submit the idea.

The majority of inventors do not understand what it takes to successfully commercialize a product and underestimate the value of a team. Many think someone should "take it and run with it" just because the inventor thinks he/she has a good idea. Get real, there are no charities for inventors who have no money. You are at the mercy of whomever you give your idea. Patents only give you the opportunity to sue someone, take 3-5 years to get issued, and cost upward of $500, 000 to litigate against infringement. I have worked with new products both with and without patents for over 16 years. What I can tell you is that if you think there is a need for a solution to a problem, someone else is thinking the same thing. Rewards go to those who act quickly. To think someone has stolen your idea is naive...they steal or imitate commercially successful products, not ideas. Move your feet, not your mouth.

Bonnie Griffin Kaake

As I read reviews online about Edison Nation, I came across a few that read almost verbatim to my experience with this company! I submitted an idea to them and it made it to the 3rd tier only to stop there. I thought ok, that's fine but THEN less than one year, I saw an advertisement for my same idea - right down the EXACT illustration mock ups, ad-copy and other information that I submitted directly to Edison Nation! I was floored and angry and hurt all at once. I contacted EN and they, of course, gave me the standard Plausible Den. rhetoric; however, both I and God know what transpired there. The problem may or may not be at the top levels of the company, but somewhere within their system they are flawed because someone within their company 'leaked' my idea (or just outright sold it) to another company for profit. I received nothing but broken dreams. Thank God I am not a quitter but DO NOT SEND YOUR IDEAS TO THIS COMPANY. This is the inventor's greatest nightmare.

No no no. That is not how you protect a idea. Write up everything about your idea. Then go get it notarized stamped with a date and time. That is the poor mans provisional patent. That shows that your plan is to go public with your idea. This will stand up in court if any one takes your idea. I saw a video on youtube of this lawyer Darrcell walker.

That really bites Jen. One way to protect your idea, which may not all ways work, but is a cheap measure, is to write out your patent in a letter, then mail it to your self registered mail. I would even go as far as mailing two or three letters. When you goto the PO, ask they stamp the back of your letter. When you get them back, don't open them, keep them in a safe place.

Your idea is patentable at the time it was conceived. If no one else submits it to the USPTO, your idea is yours. But using the method above, and someone else patents your idea, you may have recourse if you came up with the idea first. The letters satisfies the legal rules in a court of law.

There are all ways stipulations, as in sometimes if you have an idea and just sit on it, the USPTO or a court may rule in favor of another. You have to be actively seeking an ideas development. This is just one example. As I opened with, this may not all ways work. However I think that $5 to $15 is least worth some protection.

I submitted an idea to this company and then within two months, the FBI came out with MY IDEA! I was totally shocked, and outraged! Someone in the EN company had to have sent my idea to the feds! Apparently, they bought the patent and sold the idea...I was totally ripped off! I know it doesn't take two months to actually come up with a phone app and develop it. It was only about 6 weeks after I submitted my idea to them, and it was moving right along, until about the 3rd tier, and then just stopped, and then about two weeks later, my idea was revealed by the feds...I had written out the entire idea, and they took part of it and ran with it! I know I have no recourse, because I had no patent...I couldn't afford it.

All I can say is Karma will catch up to each and every thief involved in this, and I hope they get what's coming to them! That was MY idea, and it was sitting on their site for the longest time (since Christmas of last year), so they could easily have read it, and used it then. I was stupid. Please don't be fooled like i was...I'll never do that again!

There needs to be a law that prevents these type of companies whom pray on wishful and undereducated inventors whom take the bait form what I call vultures. The only people to make any money are these so called inventor help companies. They are all snake oil salesmen. They want your money to evaluate your idea? That is the same scam as the chain letter. If 10, 000 people send in $25.00 they are just laughing at your ignorance right off the bat. Edison Nation is one of them. What is a big shame is that they were on PBS portraying themselves as heros for the inventors. PBS needs to do a story on these con-artists, as to what they really are about. They keep sending out E-mails with contests they are setting up through big companies. They tell you that they get better than industry standards in Royalties and are willing to split it with you. They fail to tell you that industry standards are 3%-5% and that is only if it is profit, you do not get one thin dime till your idea is in the black. Basically they just act as a go between with your money funding the whole project. They do nothing you could not do yourself. Think about it this way, Lets just sayyour Idea has just made $1, 000, 000 and that is profit...and your cut is 5% you just made the company that manufacturers the product $950, 000...Your cut of the whole thing is only $25, 000 because you just gave your other half to Edison Nation of $25, 000. You have already spent way more than that just getting patents and all the other vulture companies that prey on first or even second time inventors, mold makers, Patent lawyers, advertising, web pages..list goes on. Anytime you have to send people money to look at your ideas is the same as applying for a job and having to pay them for clerical work. You need to get with your local inventors group, each State has one, or just call the President of one near you and let him tell you the war stories of these Vultures. These local Inventors are just like you and I, they are not in it to scam you, it is like a fraternity where you can get practically all your information as to whom to avoid or give you contacts that may take you to the next level. There are inventors in the group that are at different levels and have fallen in the trappings of these heartless jerks. I honestly cannot see how these people can sleep at night knowing they are bleeding you dry by leading you on, knowing that as long as they keep you all lathered up about your invention you will keep pitching money at them till you have no more to give. You have drained your savings, put your house up, borrowed money from friends and family. Then when all your resources are dried up, they will not have a thing to do with you. If you look at all the ideas that have gone to market with this company Edison Nation or any company in the same rip-off business, for all the years they have been in business it is a joke!.. They may get one hit here and there, but I guarantee you they have suckered hundreds of thousands out of their dreams. They do help me in one way..and they can help you as well..when they send you the information that there is a contest for a ceartain idea for a big name company..I just send the idea to the company after their so called contest is over. They are helping me by letting me know who is looking for ideas and it makes it better to send your invention to companies looking for ideas because 90% of most companies DO NOT take ideas from outside inventors, they tell you they have a department that does that for them and they do not want to deal with all the legalities of outside sources. I will thank them for that. Good luck with your venture, be safe, do all your own leg work and if you can do it yourself you turn the tables and get 90% of the profits for yourself, why would you want to sell you idea and make someone else rich? Always make your first step in Inventing towards Your States or cities Inventors organazations. You can get a Provisional Patent for a mere $110.00 which protects you for 1 year as a Patent Pending. This allows you to show your ideas to anybody and feel safe, to see if your product or idea is worth even going to market with and you do not waist 10's of thousands on the Vultures that pick your bones dry. Disclosure documents are a joke, any Lawyer can find a loophole in a contract. Just go to PTO.Gov and look up Provisional Patent, a fifth grader can do this one.