Invention Promoter's Name: Invention Technologies Incorporated

Complainant's Name: Steven Houdek

Response:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Inventor's Assistance Program
P.O. Box 2327
Arlington, VA 22202

Dear Sir or Madam:

This letter is sent to respond to the complaint of Steven Houdek. Please note Mr. Houdek's two-year contract recently expired which may explain his reason for filing his complaint publicly and his request for a "substantial refund". We do not take kindly to his threats of public defamation in the event we do not sufficiently respond to his demands.

In any event, based upon our review of his file, Mr. Houdek entered into two contracts with Invent-Tech for invention promotion services. In September 2002, he purchased an Invention Research Portfolio, which was delivered to him within 3 weeks. In his letter he states he recently went on the USPTO website and found products similar to his. He also claims that he was told that no other products like his were filed. Aside from what Mr. Houdek claims, he signed an Affirmative Disclosure Statement in September 2002, which clearly states our company does not give patent advice. The document he signed states the following:

Invention Technologies, Inc. does not, at any stage, perform any evaluation or assessment of the market potential, patentability, technical feasibility, or merit of ideas submitted to it.

After he received and reviewed his Invention Research Portfolio and after he signed and read the Affirmative Disclosure Statement, Mr. Houdek elected to purchase additional services from our company. In November 2003, he purchased two years worth of inventor assistance services. We recently fulfilled Mr. Houdek's two-year contract and provided all the services enumerated in his contract.

Mr. Houdek takes issue with the fact he understood that we employed engineers and attorneys at our company office in 2002. In actuality, our company consults with independent engineers and patent attorneys. Whether these professionals were employees or independent contractors is inconsequential, since we do obtain their advice for our clients. We further note Mr. Houdek signed an Advanced Development Authorization form on June 6, 2003 wherein he acknowledged he understood: (1) competitors will develop similar products and (2) no promises or representations were made to him. See enclosed document.

Over the course of Mr. Houdek's contract he did express dissatisfaction with some of the services provided to him. Since it is our policy to strive for 100% client satisfaction we addressed each issue with Mr. Houdek. He ultimately advised us he was satisfied with our efforts. Mr. Houdek expressed no further issues with our service and we fulfilled his contract to completion. I can only presume that the source of his current dissatisfaction is the fact that his product was not licensed. This, of course, we cannot nor did we ever guarantee.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Gary Frangipane
General Manager

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