{"data":{"id":"us/37-cfr-4.2","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"37 CFR 4.2","heading":"Definitions.","body":"(a) Invention Promoter means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity who offers to perform or performs invention promotion services for, or on behalf of, a customer, and who holds itself out through advertising in any mass media as providing such services, but does not include—\n(1) Any department or agency of the Federal Government or of a State or local government;\n(2) Any nonprofit, charitable, scientific, or educational organization qualified under applicable State law or described under section 170(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;\n(3) Any person or entity involved in the evaluation to determine commercial potential of, or offering to license or sell, a utility patent or a previously filed nonprovisional utility patent application;\n(4) Any party participating in a transaction involving the sale of the stock or assets of a business; or\n(5) Any party who directly engages in the business of retail sales of products or the distribution of products.\n(b) Customer means any individual who enters into a contract with an invention promoter for invention promotion services.\n(c) Contract for Invention Promotion Services means a contract by which an invention promoter undertakes invention promotion services for a customer.\n(d) Invention Promotion Services means the procurement or attempted procurement for a customer of a firm, corporation, or other entity to develop and market products or services that include the invention of the customer.","path":["Title 37—Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights","CHAPTER I—UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE","SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL","PART 4—COMPLAINTS REGARDING INVENTION PROMOTERS"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-37.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:25:45Z","sha256":"99953d83ecba30f9fd98fa41487d36f196012a89c4a1426ddcca774799e83475","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/37-cfr-4.1","next":"us/37-cfr-4.3"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}