Have An Invention? Beware Of False Promises

When Robert and Sherrie Hart invented the Go Caddy -- a combination stroller and car seat -- the Indiana couple turned to the Patent and Trademark Institute of America to turn their design into a moneymaker.The Harts say PTI gave them some encouraging news."They said there's not one out there," Robert Hart told Call 6 for Help's Rafael Sanchez.

In all, the Harts spent nearly $13,000 to patent, research and market the idea. But weeks later, Sherrie Hart, while searching online, found a product similar to theirs was already for sale in the United States.