games-fellow-nolan-bushnell-crop-2924One of this magazine’s intellectual and innovative heroes, Nolan Bushnell, will be the keynote speaker at the INPEX inventor tradeshow next June.

Bushnell is an engineer and entrepreneur who founded Atari and popularized the iconic videogame Pong. He’s also founder of Chuck E. Cheese Pizza-Time Theater chains, but we don’t hold that against him.

Bushnell has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame.

One of the founding fathers of the video game industry, he’s stared more than 20 companies.

He’s currently founder and CEO of uWink, and game-based restaurant company and chairman of NeoEdge Networks, and ad-based video game company.

INPEX is June 16-18, 2010. It’s billed as America’s largest invention tradeshow. This will be the show’s 25th anniversary. Organizers cancelled the show this year, citing the economic downturn and concerns the recession would impact attendance and corporate participation.

INPEX is run by InventHelp, a Pittsburgh-based invention-submission company. You’ve undoubtedly seen their cartoon caveman ads on ESPN, CNN and other outlets.

Invention submission company InventHelp, a trade name of Invention Submission Corp. (ISC), also known as Western Invention Submission Corp. and a division of Technosystems Consolidated. InventHelp is among the major invention submission companies critics say dupes inventors. It’s never seen an invention it won’t promote using template-generated marketing materials, critics say. Critics add that the company hooks naïve inventors with low-cost products and services of dubious value, only to upsell them more expensive products and services.

In 1994, without admitting guilt, the company settled allegations of fraud with the Federal Trade Commission. InventHelp has been the target of lawsuits and consumer complaints. Entire Web sites are devoted to warning inventors to stay away from the company.

A LexisNexis search of court records shows that InventHelp has never been convicted of fraud or wrongdoing.

As per law, the company must post its success rate. It’s Web site says: “From 2005 to 2007, we signed submission agreements with 5,959 clients. As a result of our services, 98 clients have received license agreements for their products, and 20 clients have received more money than they paid us for these services.”

Twenty out of 5,959 – inventors had a 0.3 percent chance of making more money in royalties than they paid InventHelp.

Company officials have said they are not satisfied with that and are working to improve their success.