A View of an Invention Marketing Company’s Costs and Profit Numbers Exposed – the Affirmative Disclosure Statement
Taken from the Davidson Website – posted here without comment.
In 1999, the American Inventors Protection Act (the AIPA) was enacted with a requirement that specific information be provided to inventors prior to contracting for invention promotion services. We strongly support the AIPA’s goal of promoting integrity in the invention promotion industry. In order to ensure that our customers are well informed of the risks of invention development, and to comply with the AIPA, the company provides the following information:
The AIPA requires the disclosure of “the total number of inventions evaluated by the invention promoter for commercial potential in the past 5 years, as well as the number of those inventions that received positive evaluations, and the number of those inventions that received negative evaluations.” Invention marketing firm Davison does not offer evaluations of inventions for commercial potential; therefore, the total number evaluated in the past five years is zero (0), the number of positive evaluations is zero (0) and the number of negative evaluations is zero (0).
The AIPA requires the disclosure of “the total number of customers who have contracted with the invention promoter in the past 5 years, not including customers who have purchased trade show services, research, advertising, or other non-marketing services from the invention promoter, or who have defaulted in their payment to the invention promoter.” As of the date of this disclosure, the number of applicable customers for Davison is forty three thousand five hundred twenty seven (43,527).
The AIPA requires the disclosure of “the total number of customers known by the invention promoter to have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by such invention promoter.” Because the AIPA defines “invention promotion services” as “the procurement or attempted procurement for a customer of a firm, corporation, or other entity to develop and market products or services that include the invention of the customer” the company may exclude fees paid for services such as design and construction of prototypes from the expenses incurred by its customers and may report that twenty three (23) customers received a net financial profit since the company was founded in 1989. However, if design and prototype expenses are considered as part of the customer’s expenses for determining net financial profit under the AIPA, the number of customers who received a net financial profit over the company’s history is thirteen (13).
The AIPA requires the disclosure of “the total number of customers known by the invention promoter to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided by such invention promoter.” Since 1989, that number is three hundred twenty two (322).
Finally, the AIPA requires that a company providing invention promotion services disclose “the names and addresses of all previous invention promotion companies with which the invention promoter or its officers have collectively or individually been affiliated in the previous 10 years.” Davison Design and Development, Inc. was previously known as Davison & Associates, Inc., operating from the same address, 595 Alpha Drive, RIDC Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.
Affirmative Disclosure Statement by Davidson:
The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is eight sixty four thousand one hundred nine (864,109). Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years.
The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Development agreement (or similar contract for research services) is two hundred ninety three thousand eight hundred sixteen (293,816). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is two hundred ninety three thousand eight hundred sixteen (293,816).
The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Development Agreement or similar contract for research services is fifty eight thousand eight hundred sixty seven (58,867). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is fifty eight thousand eight hundred sixty seven (58,867).
The total number of consumers who were offered a New Product Sample Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is thirty seven thousand four hundred twenty four (37,424). The number of consumers who signed a New Product Sample Agreement or similar agreement is eighteen thousand three hundred sixty two (18,362).
The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is one hundred twenty six (126).
The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is five (5).
The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.
According to the Inventor Protection Act of 1999, invention promotion companies must show “The number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid to the company.”
Here’s information from the Davidson Design and Development, Inc. company, previously known as Davidson & Associates. 595 Alpha Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.
From the Davidson Website, you can find these figures:
Total number of consumers offered a Pre-Development agreement: 293,816
Total number who purchased this or a similar agreement: 58,867
Number who were offered a New Product Sample Agreement (Design services): 37,424
Number of people who signed this agreement: 18,362
The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison is 5.
The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.
(They make all but .001% of their money from fees they charge inventors.)
In fact – Quoted from the Davidson Website, October of 2022:
“AFFIRMATIVE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
You should read all of this information carefully before proceeding.
The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is five hundred seventy seven thousand five hundred two (577,502) Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years. The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Development agreement (or similar contract for research services) is two hundred twenty two thousand six hundred seventy two (222,672). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is two hundred twenty two thousand six hundred seventy two (222,672). The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Development Agreement or similar contract for research services is forty one thousand two hundred fifty two (41,252). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is forty one thousand two hundred fifty two (41,252). The total number of consumers who were offered a New Product Sample Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is thirty six thousand thirty nine (36,039). The number of consumers who signed a New Product Sample Agreement or similar agreement is eighteen thousand two hundred sixty three (18,263). The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is fifteen (15). The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties or sales proceeds than they paid to Davison, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is six (6). This number includes people who first made a profit more than 5 years ago, if they continued to make additional profit during the past five years. The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.
Numbers current as of October 4, 2022”
Their FEES:
Since the company’s beginning in 1989 – well almost 30 years ago –
the number of people who received a net financial profit gain
as a direct result of their services is 35.
Fees from the Davidson Company to prepare design images or graphics for presentation of the idea are typically range from $8,000.00 to $15,000.00
Fees for “Representation agreement” for clients who have quantities of professionally manufactured goods is typically $5,850.00; plus 10% of all money received by the client for sale of goods or licensing their product.
How successful are they at representing inventors who already have their products professionally manufactured? Not very: The percentage of Davison’s income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers’ products is .001%.
These numbers are stated as current as of August 22, 2017
Newer figures may be available as posted on their site.