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| AbsolutleyNew Inc I P & R THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH SO HELP ME GOD! San Francisco, California |
| 28th of Sep, 2011 by User579304 |
To all interested parties, My name is Stephen B. First, I must say that this is a little embarrassing. Before this experience I considered myself to be a person not easily fooled. I thought I had done my homework, but in high en site I should have dug a little deeper. The information I needed to make a better decision was there had I just been more diligent. In this day of the World Wide Web, its hard for anyone to hide for long from the bad things they've done. As is afforded to all, per my first amendment right to freedom of speech, the following is a copy of the complaint I recently filed with the USPTO. It is my truthful account of my experience with the Invention Promotion Company currently know as AbsolutelyNew Inc. I'm not saying that this will be your experience if you decide to hire them, but unfortunately it was mine. I doubt I'm the only one. In fact I know I'm not. I've tried not to leave anything out. This complaint is being filed under the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 DATE OF CORRESPONDENCE: September 1, 2011 Name of the Invention Promotion Company: Absolutely New, Inc. Invention Promoter’s Address: 650 Townsend St., Suite 475, San Francisco, CA 94103 Complainant’s Name: Stephen M. B Complainant’s Address: xxxx Cxxxx Ave. Customer’s Name: Stephen M. B Name of mass media invention promoter advertised in: Unsolicited mass mailings. Invention promotion service offered to be performed:
Prepare a Marketing Research Document, Prepare a Marketing Package,
Represent Invention at trade shows, Personally contact Potential
Acquirers in attempt to obtain a sale, or licensing agreement. Explanation of complaint between customer and invention promoter: After receiving several letters over a two year period I decided to contact Absolutely New to inquire about their services. I had extensive discussions with Dave Stickel about his company, and was emailed a contract to consider on February 8th 2011. The reasons I decided to hire this company was because of their promise to represent my products at trade shows around the country and to present them to manufacturers for a possible licensing deal. Specifically I was assured that if I enlisted their services right away they would be able to include my products in their booth at the Chicago House Wares Show on March
7th-12th. I was told that this was the most important show of the year for my type of products which are designer beddings for children: www.pantplanet.com When I made my decision to hire Absolutely New I was asked by Dave Stickel to sign the signature page of the contract he had emailed me and fax it to him which I did. The following week I took a trip to San Francisco to see the company in person and deliver a check. Dave Stickel introduced me to Serena Soo. She was the project coordinator that would be handling my products. I was again assured by Serena that she personally would be taking my products to the Chicago trade show in a
couple of weeks. She said she would not have time to prepare my marketing materials for the show but would take the samples and brochures that I had provided to her. Before I left Dave Stickel gave me two more copies of the signature page to sign so that we both would have an original copy. A few days later I received a hard copy of the contract in the U.S. mail which I put in a file. The Monday following the Chicago show I left Serena Soo a voice mail asking how the show went. In response she sent me an email saying that the show went well and that she had spoken to several companies about my products and that they were intrigued. She said that she told them she would be following up with them in the next few weeks once she had
finished my marketing materials. It was during the preparation of these marketing materials that the problems began. Serena Soo sent me a draft of the “concept sheet “that looked like it was prepared by a third grader. I know photoshop so I fixed it myself and sent it back. I was then told that this “one page concept sheet†was in fact going to be the entire “marketing packageâ€. I decided to look at the contract that I had been sent via U.S. mail to see if Serena was giving me the “marketing package†as promised in the agreement. The contract said that Absolutely New would prepare a “marketing package†that would include a “one page full-color product concept sheet†as well as any other photographs, designs, and illustrations that
ANI deems to enhance the marketability of the invention. This clearly implies the “package†would be more than just the “one page concept sheetâ€. The details of my bedding designs are numerous, and additional photographs and illustrations would have most definately enhanced the marketability. It was at this time I discovered that a paragraph had been added to this hard copy of the contract I received in the U.S. mail that was not part of the original contract Dave Stickel had sent me by email. The added paragraph had information describing the companies’ track record. When I saw this information I grew even more concerned because the track record was not what I considered impressive and was in direct contrast to the representations Dave Stickel had made during our initial phone
calls before signing the contract. Despite my growing concerns, which I voiced to both Dave Stickel and Serena Soo, I decided to give Serena a chance to send out this so called “marketing package†to prospective potential manufacturers. She tried to assure me she knew what she was doing and that “I had to let go of my baby and trust herâ€. Five weeks later, now into the first week of May, I sent her an email requesting an update. I was supposed to have received a quarterly report by now but had not. I was curious to see how her follow up went with the companies she said had expressed interest at the Chicago Show as well as any progress with other potential manufactures. In response Serena Soo sent me a Quarterly Report for March. Inthe report, which covered five weeks, she had only listed four manufacturers that she had
attempted to contact regarding my products. According to the report, only one out of the four companies had even received my so-called marketing materials. Additionally there was no mention in the report of any follow up with the companies she claimed had expressed interest at the Chicago Trade Show. When I spoke to her over the phone about the report she told me that those companies from the Chicago Show had passed on my products. When I pressed her for the details and asked why this
information was not included in the March Report she was evasive and I felt she was lying. She even hung up on me twice. This was the last straw. I told her to stop all her efforts, which wasn’t much anyway, until I got some answers. I decided to call the people that ran the Chicago Show and discovered that Serena Soo had never attended the trade show. A badge had been reserved in her name but was never paid for or picked up. I also did some research and discovered that the paragraph which had been added to my contract by Dave Stickel was a disclosure required by California statutes as well as the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999.
According to the California Business & Professions Code § 22379 & 22381 as well as 35 U.S.C. § 297(a) this information was supposed to be disclosed to me in writing upon first oral communication, as well as written in the contract. After being ignored for two weeks by Dave Stickel and Serena Soo, in my attempt to resolve these problems, I finally requested in writing to see all records and correspondence regarding the efforts made to market my products. According to my contract this information was suppose to be made available to me within 7 days of written notice. This clause was never honored despite my repeated request to see the documents. I was finally was put in contact with Tony Flores, the general council for Absolutely New. He looked into the contract issue regarding Dave Stickels actions. He confirmed that Dave had purposely tampered with my contract by deleting the paragraph with the required disclosures from the original emailed to me, and then attempted to sneak it back into the hard copy that was sent to me by U.S. mail. He told me that Dave was a rogue employee and that he had been fired. With regards to Serena Soo and the Chicago trade show, I was told by Richard Donat the CEO that Serena was claiming that she had never told me she was going to Chicago. Donat said I’m sorry but this is a He said She said situation even after I presented him with a copy of her email that she sent me upon her supposed return from Chicago. The last day of
the show was Saturday March 12th. The following is an excerpt from the email that was sent to me by Serena on Tuesday March 15th in response to a phone message I left for her on Monday March 14th, in which I asked how her trip to Chicago went: Steve “The Chicago show went well; the companies were open to looking at products and new products for next season. When I spoke to companies about your product they were intrigued, and I told them I would follow up in the next few weeks once the concept sheet is complete. Once the concept sheet is complete, I will begin the marketing.†I have other emails on the subject that I did not present to Absolutely New that suggest she was not being truthful. After my phone call with her in which we discussed the March Quarterly Report, I sent her several emails requesting to see details of her correspondence with the companies from the Chicago Show she claimed to have spoken to. I wanted the names of personell she had spoken to, times and dates, and copies of emails, rejection letters etc. etc. from these companies. In her
email responses she never once said I did not go to Chicago, only that she would give me this information in my next quarterly report. It was only after I told Flores that I had contacted the people in Chicago and knew Serena was not there that she began denying that she had ever told me she was going in the first place. It is my belief that Mr. Donat was covering for her because she was directed by her supervisors to mislead me. Why would she lie to me on her own accord about attendance at a trade show? I had requested in writing to see proof of the correspondence with the companies she claimed to have spoken to about my products while in Chicago. If she were being truthful she must have had emails to back up these claims. Nothing was ever provided. I believe because they did not exist. Tony Flores and Richard Donat then gave me the choice of a full refund of the fee that I had paid or the opportunity to enter into a new marketing agreement and in the same breath, told me that their retail division had a serious interest in my products from Bed Bath & Beyond and that Absolutely New would want to discuss a licensing agreement if the interest solidified into a purchase order. At this point I did not know what to believe. Absolutely New was asking me to forgive the apparent fraud by Dave Stickel, Serena Soo was now calling me a liar, Richard Donat appeared to be covering for her, my written request was not being honored, and now Bed Bath & Beyond was supposedly interested in my products. I told Mr. Flores that I had lost all trust in Absolutely New & in order to make a decision as to how I would proceed that I would have to verify all statements from him and the CEO Richard Donat. I requested proof of Dave Stickels termination, proof of the interest from Bed Bath & Beyond, and again proof that Serena Soo had done the work she claimed to have done in her March Report. The only document I got from them was regarding Dave Stickel. They refused to give me the other documents I requested unless I agreed to enter a new contract. I was entitled to this information per the current contract. Why would I have to enter a new contract to get it? I was requesting it in order to give Absolutely New the opportunity to regain my trust, and to verify if they were telling the truth about anything. After getting nowhere for several weeks, I sent them a letter demanding to be made whole by reimbursing me for all monies that I had spent as a result of my association with their company. I wanted reimbursement of the $20,630.00 fee plus interest, all samples I had given them, attorneys’ fees I had incurred, and travel expenses. I also requested compensation for 6 months of lost time. In all I was asking for $36,761.00. Absolutely New sent me a check for much less than I was asking for along with a letter full of mis characterizations of the circumstances that were frankly, insulting and not true. I sent them back a letter saying such, and that my demand for damages stands. Over the next couple of weeks I discovered that Absolutely New had just lost a patent infringement suit and were currently involved in a trademark infringement lawsuit. The details of these cases are shocking and can be viewed by all by going to the following links on the internet. New Angle Pet Products Inc. vs Absolutely New Inc.; http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/patent-lawsuits/new-york-eastern-district-court/59713/new-angle-pet-products-inc-v-absolutelynew-inc/summary/. Invent World Wide Consulting LLC vs. Absolutely New Inc. http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/trademark-lawsuits/illinois-northern-district-court/72241/invent-worldwide-consulting-llc-v-absolutelynew-inc/summary/. I also discovered that they were on a suspended status with the California Secretary of State since May 2nd and were not maintaining a Surety Bond as required by California law. This information is all available over the internet. When I found out all of this information I decided that I should go ahead and cash the check that they had sent, even though I had rock solid evidence of fraud and many counts of breach of contract that I could have used to win a lawsuit. A judgment from a
lawsuit will do you no good if a company is insolvent or is not maintaining the required Surety Bond to collect against. It has also come to my attention that Absolutely New was a sister company with Inventors Publishing & Research. IP&R has had
numerous complaints with the USPTO. Tony Flores, Dave Stickel and CEO Richard Donat all worked for IP&R. It is my opinion, and experience that Absolutely New Inc. can not be trusted and I would recommend everyone to stay away. My phone number is 818-xxx-xxxx and I will accept phone calls from anyone who has questions about the details of my experience with Absolutely New. Signed: Stephen M B
Date: September 1st, 2011 Well, that's what happened. There have been some new developments since I filed this complaint with the USPTO. I will share those with you at a later date. I will be the first to tell you not to believe most of what you read on the internet, but this my friends has been the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me god! STAY TUNED |
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