You've probably seen these companies before.  They advertise on television late at night (to appeal to insomniatic inventors), and in the middle of the working day (to appeal to out-of-work inventors).  They ask whether you've ever invented something—and then promise to help you obtain a patent on your brilliant but as-yet-undeveloped invention.

They usually sound too good to be true—and often they are.  They promise that they will help you draft your patent application, file it for you—even help you persuade the government to let the patent application mature into a full-fledged patent. 

But a huge number of these companies are often, shall we say, less than candid about what they can do for their customers.  Many of these companies engage in the unauthorized practice of law; others take customers' money and do little, if anything, in help them.

But help has arrived—and it's from the government.  Yes, the government.  (Really, it is.)

The United States Patent and Trademark Office just changed its rules—and in doing so, put up a much needed shield in front of the wallets of inventors all over the United States.  The new rules clarify the fact that only a lawyer or a patent agent can prepare, or file, a patent application on behalf of another person. That's good news for some naive inventors who would have otherwise given their money to invention submission companies, only to get disappointing results.

You can check out the new rules HERE.

Don't want to bother reading the rules?  Ok, let me break them down for you:

The rule says that only a lawyer or patent agent can "practice before" the USPTO.  "Practice before" the USPTO (with regard to patent matters) means, in relevant part, (i) preparing or filing a patent application, (ii) consulting with or giving advice to a client in contemplation of filing a patent application or other document with the USPTO, (iii) drafting the specs of a patent application, or (iv) drafting a reply to a communication from the USPTO that may require written argument to establish the patentability of an invention. 

The rules go into greater detail than my brief explanation above—but you get the point.  In sum, if you're not an attorney or patent agent, you can't file a patent application or even help someone file a patent application. 

So it goes for invention submission companies—and not a minute too soon in my opinion.