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AN avid reader writes: I have given details of a new invention to International Technology Exchange in Ireland. It has had £480 from me, since when it has written asking for more, and I am not sure what to do. WM
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ITE advertises on the satellite TV Discovery Channel, inviting anyone who has come up with a bright idea to contact its Dublin office for help and advice on production and marketing. People who do this say they are charged about £480 for a report that contains mostly generic advice and only a little information specifically about their invention. They are then asked for about 10 times as much for further marketing help.
Company records show that the director of ITE is a man named Matthew Evans, though this can't be easy for him. For one thing, he lives in Virginia, USA, and for another, he is a landscape architect, not a scientist, technician, engineer, or even a salesman. I invited Evans to say whether he actually carried out the normal duties of the head of a company, but all that came back was a letter from a Dublin firm of lawyers saying that neither he nor ITE would comment. This is a shame, since every ITE letter and contract I have seen carries what seems to be an identical signature from Evans. Is it printed? Is it rubberstamped? Is Evans really running the company? ITE won't say.
What is clear is that Kenneth Rogers is a leading light at ITE.
Several years ago, he gave evidence to a US government investigation into invention promotion scams. He testified: 'For six years, through to the end of 1993, I was employed by a large invention development business which unfortunately turned out to be engaged in a pattern of continual deception of its inventor clients. I'm not proud to say I was a part of this, but I was.' And he explained that the initial report sold to inventors was just the beginning: 'The real money wasn't made on the reports. The next step was to solicit that the inventor purchase a high-priced marketing package.'
Later, Rogers headed a company called Global Development Services. This was such a rip-off that under an out-of-court settlement with American consumer watchdogs, it was forced to refund $1 million to inventors and give new customers a written admission that no inventor had ever made a penny through its services. Of course, ITE is quite new and quite separate. But given Rogers' background, it is nothing more than common sense to ask for information about his role in the business.
I asked ITE for details of Rogers' role. Through its lawyers it refused to comment. I also asked ITE to let me talk to any inventor who had made money with its help. Through its lawyers, ITE refused to comment. British inventor Trevor Bayliss, who came up with the clockwork radio, has proposed an academy of inventors where people with bright ideas could find help in safety. I wish him every success in setting it up. Meanwhile, unless ITE gives you the answers it refused to give to me, my advice is not to send it another penny.
