ISC Motion for Preliminary Injunction
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Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7 Filed 01/26/10 Page 1 of 3 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK INVENTION SUBMISSION CORPORATION ) t/d/b/acorporation, INVENTHELP, a Pennsylvania ) ) ) NOTICE OF MOTION FOR A Plaintiff, )) PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ) Civil Action No. 5:10-cv-00074 v. ) (NPMlDEP) ) IP WATCHDOG INC., a New York corporation, ) Eugene R. Quinn Jr. an individual, and ) Renee Quinn, an individuaL. ) Defendants. )) Motion By: Plaintiff Date, Time and Place of Motion: March 12,2010, at 10 a.m. United States Courthouse, Syracuse, New York Object of Motion: An order (1) Preliminarily enjoining IP Watchdog Inc., Eugene R. Quinn Jr., Renee Quinn, their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all others in active concert or participation with them during the pendency ofthis action from disseminating anywhere, including but not limited to, on their web site www.ipwatchdog.com the following: (a) Any advertisement, promotional communication and/or claim asserting, expressly or by implication, that Plaintiffs inventor assistance services are worthless, fraudulent, 1 Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7 Filed 01/26/10 Page 2 of 3 inferior and/or any other statement disparaging Plaintiffs inventor assistance services and/or any similar advertisements, promotional communications and/or claims; and, (b) Any advertisement, promotional communication and/or claim asserting, expressly or by implication, that Plaintiff s contractual performance is worthless, fraudulent, inferior and/or making any other statement disparaging Plaintiffs contractual performance and/or any similar advertisements, promotional communications and/or claims; and, (c) Any advertisement, promotional communication and/or claim asserting, expressly or by implication, that the inventor assistance services offered by Defendants provide greater value to consumers than Plaintiffs inventor assistance services and/or any similar advertisements, promotional communications and/or claims; and, (d) Any advertisement, promotional communication and/or claim asserting, expressly or by implication, that consumers have a likelihood of successfully commercializing their idea utilizing Defendants' inventor assistance services and/or any similar advertisements, promotional communications and/or claims. Supporting Papers: The grounds for this motion are set forth in Plaintiffs Memorandum of Law in Support of a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction; Affidavit of Robert Susa; Affidavit of Kenneth Glaser, Esquire with accompanying exhibits; and Affidavit of Joseph R. Lininger with accompanying exhibits. 2 Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7 Filed 01/26/10 Page 3 of 3 BOND. SCHOENECK & KING, PLLC By: _s/Candace J Gomez John G. McGowan, Esq. N. D. N. Y. Bar Roll No. 501388 Candace J. Gomez, Esq. N. D. N. Y. Bar Roll No. 515283 Office and Post Office Address One Lincoln Center Syracuse, NY 13202 Ph: (315) 218-8625 Email: [email protected] [email protected] FRIEDMAN AND FRIEDMAN By: s/Edward B. Friedman Edward B. Friedman Pa. LD. 09688 J. Stephen Purcupile Pa. LD. 39174 Office and Post Office Address 900 5th Avenue, Suite 2 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Ph: (412) 261-5834 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiff 3 Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7-1 Filed 01/26/10 Page 1 of 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK INVENTION SUBMISSION CORPORATION ) corporation,t/d/b/a INVENTHELP, a Pennsylvania ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) Civil Action NO.5: lO-cv-00074 ) (NPM!DEP) v. ) AFFIDAVIT OF ROBERT J. ) SUSA IN SUPPORT OF IP WATCHDOG INC., a New York corporation, ) PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR Eugene R. Quinn Jr. an individual, and ) PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION Renee Quinn, an individuaL. ) Defendants. )) COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA ) COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY )) SS.: ROBERT J. SUSA, being duly sworn, deposes ans says: 1. I am the President of Invention Submission Corporation, a company offering inventors inventor assistance services under ISC's registered trademark InventHelp (hereinafter "InventHelp"). Over my 19 year tenure with InventHelp I have acquired an understanding of the inventor assistance services industry, the operations of InventHelp and consumers issues related to the inventor assistance services industry. My testimony is based upon my personal knowledge and I am competent to testify to the matters herein. -1- Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7-1 Filed 01/26/10 Page 2 of 8 2. InventHelp and IP Watchdog compete for the same clients, that is, individual inventors, who have an invention and may wish to seek a patent and to submit their invention to companies in the hope that the company will see the invention, find it of interest and enter into a license agreement. These consumers turn to inventor assistance service providers for assistance in approaching companies while protecting their invention from being misappropriated. 3. Many ofInventHelp's clients and potential clients are individuals who have access to the Internet and regularly seek to locate and read information posted by InventHelp about its inventor assistance services. InventHelp has received complaints from clients and potential clients asserting that they have read on the IP Watchdog website (www.ipwatchdog.com) and have been told by IP Watchdog, Gene Quinn and Renee Quinn (hereinafter collectively referred to as "IP Watchdog") that InventHelp's inventor assistance services are fraudulent and that InventHelp presents its inventor assistance services dishonestly. In response to these complaints I have reviewed relevant portions ofIP Watchdog's web site and am familiar with the competing inventor assistance services offered by IP Watchdog and the manner in which those competing services are promoted by IP Watchdog. 4. IP Watchdog advertises and promotes the same range of inventor assistance services as offered by InventHelp on IP Watchdog's web site www.iQwatchdog.com. As a first step both IP Watchdog and InventHelp provide the inventor access to market information and a patentability search and opinion. In this regard IP Watchdog states that it will assist the inventor in assessing the "commercial possibilities" for their invention through a preliminary patentability -2- Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7-1 Filed 01/26/10 Page 3 of 8 search and opinion service that includes a discussion of "marketing.". InventHelp assists the inventor by preparing a Basic Information Report (BIP) containing standardized market information and other basic information about the invention. At the same time InventHelp refers the inventor to a patent attorney to obtain a patentability search and opinion. 5. IP Watchdog and InventHelp both provide submission services. IP Watchdog recommends that inventors purchase their "Invent + Patent System" to gain "Patent Pending" protection for the submission process. IP Watchdog's submission assistance includes: a) referral to Lambert and Lambert, IP Watchdog's paid sponsor, for an invention evaluation and recommendation report; b) IP Watchdog's consulting services which are represented to provide a "plan of action ... to protect, market and economically capitalize on your invention"; and c) IP Watchdog's instructions for do-it-yourself submissions to industry. IP Watchdog also offers patent application services 6. InventHelp offers a confidential submission program involving, among other things. a Data Bank of companies that have agreed to review inventions submitted to them by InventHelp. InventHelp submits its clients' inventions to these companies to obtain a good faith review and to determine whether there is preliminary interest in the invention. We also refer our submission clients to a patent attorney to draft a patent application and perform patent application services. 7. IP Watchdog has implemented a false and misleading advertising scheme that -3- Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7-1 Filed 01/26/10 Page 4 of 8 targets InventHelp's clients and potential clients. IP Watchdog diverts our clients and potential clients by designing IP Watchdog's "Beware InventHelp Press Releases" web page so that www.ipwatchdog.comis the third ranked web site in the Google search results for "Invent Help" and/or "InventHelp." Once InventHelp's clients and potential clients are diverted to IP Watchdog's web site IP Watchdog gains an unfair commercial advantage by making false and misleading claims about InventHelp's inventor assistance services and IP Watchdog's competing inventor assistance services in order to sell IP Watchdog's services to the inventor in place of InventHelp's inventor assistance services. 8. InventHelp's existing and potential clients are exposed to repeated sales promotions for IP Watchdog's competing inventor assistance services through IP Watchdog's "Beware InventHeJp Press Releases" web page together with a series of integrated and linked web pages. These web pages contain IP Watchdog's false, deceptive, defamatory and disparaging statements telling our clients and potential clients to avoid doing business with us and falsely stating that InventHelp's inventor assistance services are fraudulent. 9. Some of the web pages targeting InventHelp's existing and potential clients on IP Watchdog's web site, www.ipwatchdQ(i.com. include the following: "Avoiding Invent Help & Other Invention Scams"; "Not AU Invention Companies are Created Equal"; "Quinn Resigns from VIA Over Invent Help Concern"; "My Position on Invent Help the VIA and Inventors Digest"; "No Holds Barred: IPWatchdog Addresses Ethical Charges"; "How Inventors Can Avoid Scams, Traps and Raw Deals"; and, "Falling Prey to Invention Submission Scams." Some -4- Case 5:10-cv-00074-FJS-DEP Document 7-1 Filed 01/26/10 Page 5 of 8 of the literally false statements that IP Watchdog uses in the promotion of its inventor assistance services to InventHelp's existing and potential clients include the claims: a. InventHelp "steal(sJ all of your money" b. InventHelp "provide(sJ fraudulent services to inventors." c. InventHelp "say (to clientsJ 'I don't see anything like it on the market'" d. InventHelp "give(sJ inventors false hopes, the~ takes them to the bank" e.