From: Joe Fournier <inventortech41@live.com>
Date: Wed, May 15, 2013 at 7:23 PM
Subject: Blowing the Whistle
Dear Members,
My Name is Joe Fournier. I was the Director of Membership Programs for the United Inventors Association.
I would like to firstly inform you that this email is being sent out to every member of the UIA.
Many of you go to the UIA website to look for corporate sponsors that you might want to do business with. In some cases, you would be better off doing a Google search. There are some important facts that you probably are unaware of. During the annual board meeting at the end of January 2013, the United Inventors Association CEASED certification of their sponsor companies because certification creates liability for the UIA. However they failed to offer you, the inventor in need of assistance, the courtesy of informing you that they had removed this safety net. The UIA board members preferred to allow you to trust that they were performing their due diligence with the companies who received their seal of membership for their websites and on the UIA website. In reality, the United Inventors Association was no longer performing any such service. My position as Director of Membership Programs was to find companies who wanted to sponsor (provide operational funding for) the UIA. Following the annual board meeting, companies that wished to sponsor the UIA would send me their BASIC information. I would then send that information to the UIA executive committee who would then vote Yes or No. My position required NO RESEARCH into the past histories, current practices, ethics, or basic trustworthiness of those companies. In many cases, the request for sponsorship approval was sent out and within minutes YES replies were returned. I feel that there was NO ATTEMPT AT RESEARCHING the potential sponsor companies due to the swiftness of the replies I had received. In fact the only negative response I had EVER received was from Bill McHenrey. Even when he had said no and presented valid reasons why the company should not be a sponsor, he was out voted by the remainder of the committee. That company paid between $3000 and $5000 to become a sponsor and have access to the UIA mailing list. While they were not allowed to have the mailing list at their discretion, we would send out promotional mailings for this company to the inventor members of the UIA. If a company wants to access our members the only requirement is PAYMENT. Special programs were designed for patron sponsors at a cost of $250.00 per email to have anything at they desired sent to all of you. This is basically a “pay to play” agenda.
The UIA website has not been updated and no new material has been added since I joined this organization.
I have had personal conversations with Mark Reyland, the Executive Director of the United Inventors Association, during which he explained that he was duplicating a product another inventor had only recently successfully brought to the consumer market. Mark Reyland, the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the UIA made DEMANDS that this inventor show him the claims on the patent the inventor held. He has even asked me to do CAD design work for a product that I now believe he was trying to at least directly interfere with the success of, if not outright steal .
Please do your own research. Perform a Google search on Mark Reyland or on the UIA and draw your own conclusions.
I would like to formally apologize for any direct or indirect actions on my part that may have resulted in damage to any of you. It was never my intention to act in any manner that could be perceived in any way as unethical. I believed in the mission of the UIA, and believed I was acting to HELP inventors bring their ideas and products to the public.
