It never ceases to amaze me how many Inventors think that just because a company has a set of policies they will change them for the Inventor. Below is an example of what I mean. Without going any deeper into the company you can plainly see that 3M is only looking for PATENTED ideas. They even state they are not looking for patent pending ideas. And below that they state in Bold Print ”
NOTE: YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A REPLY TO ANY COMMUNICATION YOU SUBMIT CONCERNING EXISTING 3M PRODUCTS”
So, my question is why are Inventors griping about how a company treats them when a company spells out their policy and the Inventor still sends them exactly what they said they don’t want to see? And does this add to the perception by many companies that Inventors as a group are crazy?
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Submit…
Submit Your Idea
Welcome to 3M’s website for the submission of new product ideas. We appreciate your interest in and support of the 3M Company.
Patented Ideas for New Products
Each year 3M assesses thousands of ideas, including many that come from people outside of our organization. We are truly appreciative of these submissions, but for legal and practical reasons we can only accept and assess an idea if it is protected by a granted or issued patent and submitted to us using the following process.
• Submit a Patented Product Idea
• Request the Status of a Previously Submitted Patented Idea
• Frequently Asked Questions
New product ideas associated with pending patent applications, provisional patent applications, and/or patent applications that are otherwise in prosecution will not be accepted in this process.
Your Thoughts Regarding Existing 3M Products
3M also welcomes comments or suggestions that you may have for improvements or new uses of existing 3M products. PLEASE NOTE: YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A REPLY TO ANY COMMUNICATION YOU SUBMIT CONCERNING EXISTING 3M PRODUCTS
• Submit Your Thoughts Regarding an Existing 3M Product