By Brian Fried
“Welcome to Got Invention Radio presented by Inventors Digest … and I’m your host Brian Fried.” That’s my line every Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST at www.gotinvention.com.
As an inventor who has enjoyed some success getting products to market, I felt there was a need to network with other inventors. In 2007 I co-founded the Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club of Suffolk County, N.Y. Since then, more than 600 inventors and supporters have come through the doors for help.
However, I discovered our group’s members were hungry for more information. Monthly meetings weren’t enough.
Tonight on Got Invention Radio …
TV personality and inventor Forbes Riley. She’s an award-winning TV host, author and a 2010 inductee into the National Fitness Hall of Fame for her lifetime commitment to selling in-home fitness and wellness products. Forbes has sold more than $2 billion worth of products in this category. Known worldwide for promoting the Jack Lalanne Juicer, the Living Well Health Master and for starring in the feature film about raw food called “Super Charge Me!”
So I set up a worldwide Internet radio program.
The broadcast explores issues important to inventors – this includes giving a platform to those who may be popular and unpopular in certain quarters of the industry.
To that end, we recently had AJ Khubani, infomercial king and founder and CEO of Telebrands, on the show, as well as Robert Susa, president of InventHelp, a well-known invention submission company.
Khubani seems to be front-and-center with the inventor community. Telebrands has successful products on air daily – PedEgg, PediPaws, Go Duster … the list is almost endless. The company also hosts inventor review sessions at industry shows and at its New Jersey headquarters.
Khubani mentions during our radio interview that 60 percent of Telebrands products come from inventors; the remaining 40 percent are from its own research and development.
Telebrands takes the lion’s share of the risk, so inventors get a small piece of the pie. If the product is a blockbuster, it could be very rewarding for all concerned. If it’s a dud, the bill is on Telebrands.
Khubani believes he has streamlined the process for inventors to bring their products to market. But, as he notes, Telebrands needs products tailored for television – items that are demonstrable, have mass-market appeal and are relatively inexpensive.
If his company says “no,” that doesn’t mean your product has no chance in the retail world – it just might not be the right fit for a direct response television campaign.
I’ve heard inventors complain that companies such as Telebrands knock off inventors’ ideas.
Khubani and his two brothers, Andy and Chuck, run related businesses. Since 1996, the three have fended off at least a dozen lawsuits, most dealing with patent or trademark infringement, including one brought by the National Audubon Society in 2000.
Additionally, TeleBrands in December 2008 agreed to pay $7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC claimed TeleBrands engaged in deceptive advertising for its Ab Force product.
I asked Khubani about this. He says he sees similar products all the time. If he goes with the one he determines has more “wow factor,” other inventors with similar products may cry foul.
And then there’s InventHelp, which sells services to help inventors license their products.
The rap against InventHelp is that it offers cookie-cutter marketing materials, charges escalating fees for services, and has a poor track record of actually getting products to market.
InventHelp basically serves as a project manager for inventors who want everything done for them. The company does not offer patent advice.
Moreover, InventHelp is not in the business of evaluating your invention. Susa says InventHelp is not qualified to judge ideas – the marketplace does that. After all, he notes, who would have thought that the Pet Rock would have become such a bright, but brief, sensation?
Susa says his company provides services at all levels of the invention process – services that require fees.
Susa believes that licensing deals should be left to a company that has established relationships with distributors and other professionals in the product-development chain. He indicated to me that inventors really have no shot at licensing on their own.
(However, I am a proven example that licensing on your own can be done!)
InventHelp discloses how many submissions it receives, how many licensing deals it has negotiated, and how many inventors have made more money in royalties than they have spent on InventHelp fees.
“From 2007-2009, we signed Submission Agreements with 5336 clients,” InventHelp’s Web site says. “As a result of our services, 86 clients have received license agreements for their products, and 27 clients have received more money than they paid us for these services.”
The information is there for those willing to take the time to do their research. And that’s really what all this comes down to – information is power.
Got Invention Radio presented by Inventors Digest has been attracting a great line up of expert resources and successful inventors to empower you.
So tune in, call in 877.474.3302 or e-mail your questions to the guests, [email protected].
Visit www.gotinvention.com
Editor’s note: This article appears in the September 2010 print edition.
I love the information Got Invention Radio offers to inventors. Nice Job.