Amazon has a new project for aspiring filmakers and screenwriter (of which I am the latter). I’ve uploaded one of my scripts and would mind some our of firends and followers to check it out.

If a modern day adaptation of Dante’s Inferno:

Inferno is a drama about a man forced to atone for past mistakes by struggling through Hell in order to save his niece, who replaced the child he sacrificed long ago.

Not having read Dante’s Inferno in high school, I felt like I missed out. Borrowing an old copy from a buddy in college, I was entertained by the story, the parts I could understand anyway. As I read, I kept thinking setting the story in a modern day city with modern day examples of the sins would be interesting. This past summer, that idea evolved into Inferno. Thank you for reading, and enjoy.

We’re drop shipping quite a bit for the Scooter Store, 1800Wheelchair.com, and even Allegro Medical is picking up the pace. (“Quite a bit” as I literally am looking at a stack of three month’s worth of account receivables.) As we appreciate this drop shipping we are still focusing on building sales through our website by continuing our SEo work. We’ve also are trying to build our social networking and brand through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. so if you check these links and are a member of the websites, we’d certainly appreciate the following you adding the following and keeping in touch with us via cyberspace.

Thanks for now.

Jeff Nelson
OH 4 Industries
We Make a Great Cup Holder.

Check out our website – http://www.oh-4.com/cupholder.php
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/GreatCupHolder
Fan Us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/universalcupholder
Or network with us on LinkedIn- http://www.linkedin.com/in/cupholder

We’re looking to license the cup holder as an easier way to get it out to the world. (Those people who AREN’T dedicated readers like yourselves.) One of the companies we’ve come across is a company called Davison out of Pittsburgh, PA. Davison’s bread and butter claim’s to take an inventor’s idea, and to the sum of $10k to $15k they will do an initial patent search, do design work yielding a workable product, make a prototype, and then attempt to license it out. Since the “Nearly” Universal OH cup holder is already in existence, we were directed to the licensing department and asked to pay $6,000.00 US, plus 10% on any royalties we would receive, and the company “guaranteed” they would submit it to 45 companies specifically targetted for our drink holder. Handling this matter personally, when I asked for references, I was told they have a strict privacy policy, and no references would be allowed. Fair enough, but could my email address and phone number be given to current clients who might be interested to share their experience? Negative, they don’t do that. Okay, so more or less I’m supposed to pay $6,000 with no guarantee and no actual person to talk to about their experience with Davison? When I pushed for a non-company reference I was directed to the corporate website, which contained a few. Push me to the web, I’ll go to the web, and lucky for us I found references, a lot of bad ones.

I went to Google (which I urge EVERYONE to do when dealing with a company, especially something that sounds too good to be true) and did a search for “davison licensing reviews” and found a few results. Most were calling the company a scam, and although it’s not an exact scam (some people did claim however they paid $10,000 to $15,000 and never received a prototype of their idea) it is important to note (from this Forbe’s magazine article on Davison) that the company does in fact make most of it’s money from the design process, and only a small fraction of a percent of its income comes from royalties of sucessfully licensed products. Another big problem stated by the website (here’s the website for Davison complaints) was that the company’s customer service was horrible once you handed over your money.

Key lessons to be learned here.

1.) The internet is a wonderful tool, so use it. If something sounds too good to be true, don’t assume it is, just check it out on Google. Although you’re rarely find positive reviews (keep this in mind if you find nothing on a company or service as that might be a good thing) if people are unhappy, you’ll definitely find out it’s not worth doing and why the person feels that way. Another good place to search after Google is the Better Business Bureau, of which Davison also had like 200+ complaints.

2.) The design process is expensive. Although I’m personally unsure of the follow through on their services (since I will now not be paying them), Davison’s price tag for the design budget is in the ballpark. I think for the design and patent application itself was right around $12k for our universal cup holder. I would suggest not cutting any corners though, and if you’re truly confident in an idea (and you can find more helpful info on the patent process on our blog) take the time to meet with a patent attorney and at least do an initial patent search. Should the results be positive, look for a qualified design firm (usually an engineering firm) that you can work personally with to monitor how your funds are being used.

Other than that, good luck, and it’s still possible to bring a product to market, just don’t expect it to happen overnight.

I am enjoying my “Nearly” Universal OH. It allows freedom to use my good arm without worrying about spills. Thanks for a great product. -Bob in Atlanta

I’ve used my “Nearly” Universal OH on several flights so far. In addition to working smoothly, it’s also sparked interesting conversations with fellow passengers and flight attendants. Thanks for this handy product. -Rosemary Vancouver, BC

I bought two to take with us for the New Jersey Nets games. They’re FANTASTIC! After initial set up it only takes three seconds to attach. -Michele from Saddle River, NJ

I use a Quantum 600 power chair and have wanted a cup holder that would actually work on it. Everything I tried would either hang to the side so I could not fit through a doorway, or was so loose, that the liquid pilled. The new OH-4 Industries cup holder is perfect! It attached to my chair easily and is very stable. No problem at all getting through doorways. This product is terrific! – Terry M. from Illinois

Excellent! Finally a cup holder that works on my powerchair! Thank you! – Mary C. from Cottage Grove, OR

Best cup holder I have ever seen! Have tried lost of others, but this one works! – eBay user marconilynx

Love it! Well designed and works great with all my mobility scooters. A+ – eBay user cruizin_suzan

I tried this on my Quikie with the round arm rests and it worked great.THANKS! – eBay user 980*250

In other quick news, we made the first page of Google search results for cup holder earlier in the day Thursday, only to be bumped back to the second page later that day. Any referring links for universal cup holder you could send to that link would be appreciated. We are also steadily climbing the first page of search results for “wheelchair cup holder” and holding fast at a position or two behind the Amazon shopping results, which will be difficult to beat.

As always thank you for visiting our site, and for more information on the last wheelchair, scooter, stadium, travel, or office chair cup holder you may ever need, please visit one of our informative links located at the top right hand side of this page.