Invention Promotion Scam

Scott Cooper and his Miami, FL, based companies, World Patent Marketing Inc. and Desa Industries Inc., agree to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission banning them from the invention promotion business.

“World Patent Marketing is simply the latest iteration of a long-running con in a barely regulated industry that targets starry-eyed inventors. As Cooper took victims for up to $400,000 each, they say, he also might have scared away a whole generation of inventors.”

The settlement order resolves charges the FTC brought this past year, alleging that Cooper and his companies deceive consumers and suppress complaints about them using threats, intimidation, and gag clauses. A federal court subsequently halts the Florida-based scheme and freezes its assets pending litigation.

According to the FTC, consumers pay the defendants thousands of dollars to patent and market their inventions based on bogus “success stories” and testimonials. After stringing consumers along for months or even years, the defendants do not deliver what they promise, and many people ended up in debt or lose their life savings with nothing to show for it.