The United Inventors Association stumbled two weeks ago, when it accepted InventHelp’s offer to send discount membership deals via the company’s e-newsletter.UIALogoNew

It was a classic public-relations gaffe. InventHelp, an invention-submission company, has long been anathema among UIA faithful. More to the point, the newsletter contained scrolling images of industry leaders (including the publisher of this magazine), who weren’t aware of the campaign and who, after the fact, objected to appearing in the InventHelp mailing.

Board vice president Gene Quinn publicly quit the board over the issue on his IPWatchdog blog. A couple of other board members bailed as well.

Some of the more strident in the “inventor community” called for the resignations of UIA executive director Patrick Raymond and board president Ron Reardon.

Others saw the occasion to as an opportunity to haul Inventors Digest – and me in particular – into the fray, questioning our ethics, professionalism and credibility.

Yeah, Patrick Raymond and Ron Reardon screwed up. Frankly, so did Gene Quinn for airing the dirty laundry so openly. But whatever.

The whole episode reeked of inside baseball, and minor league baseball at that. My team and I are so laser focused on delivering best-of-breed content for our customers, I didn’t respond to any of the inane, behind-the-scenes e-mails attacking me and this publication. Some of those writing and trafficking in the e-mails are self-promoters interested in advancing their own bogey-man agenda, snake-oil peddlers masquerading as champions for inventors.

That said, I was elated today when I read Gene Quinn’s recent post. I never asked him to defend me or the magazine, nor do I need his able defense. However, I want to publicly thank him for sticking up for us … even though I would have counseled him not to have gone public in the first place.

–Mike Drummond, editor-in-chief