WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Federal Trade Commission has charged Scott Cooper and his companies, World Patent Marketing Inc. and Desa Industries Inc., with deceiving consumers and suppressing complaints through the threat of criminal prosecution.
“This case is about protecting innovators, the engine of a thriving economy,” Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen said. “The defendants promised to promote people’s inventions and took thousands of dollars, but provided almost no service in return. Then they added insult to injury by threatening people who complained.”
A federal court has temporarily halted the scheme.
According to the FTC, consumers paid the defendants to patent and market their inventions. The defendants, however, never supplied any of the services they promised upon payment, the commission said.
Additionally, the defendants threatened to sue consumers who wanted to come forward and publish non-defamatory negative reviews about the defendants, the complaint stated.
The FTC voted 2-0 to approve the complaint.