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Brown & Michaels

Please read this page before you contact us!

Contact by postal mail, fax or phone

400 M & T Bank Building
118 North Tioga Street - The Commons
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 256-2000 (voice) 
(607) 256-3628 (fax)

Where is that? (Google Map)   

Contact by e-mail

If you know who you'd like to contact at our firm, you can find all of the personal direct e-mail addresses on our staff directory. 

If you'd like to ask a question, we're always happy to hear from users of our website, but before you waste your time waiting for us to answer, please read the following, first:

  • If you are going to ask if we have heard of a specific Invention Marketing Company, read this list first. If the company isn't listed, we can't say anything about them.
  • If you are going to ask if we know of any Invention Marketing Companies which are honest and will find you a licensee without expecting any up-front payment, the answer is:"No"(and then read this page)

  • If you are going to tell us you have paid an Invention Marketing Company thousands of dollars, and want to know if you can get your money back, the answer is:

    • "That would be governed by the contract you signed, and the laws of the state in which you live, or where the marketing company is located. Your best bet is to (a) first ask for your money back - you never know; then, if that doesn't work, (b) contact a lawyer in your area, have him or her review the contract, and ask what rights you might have under your state's laws and the American Inventor Protection Act of 1999. If you feel you have been mistreated by the IMC, consider contacting the Federal Trade Commission and filing a complaint with the US Patent and Trademark Office." 

  • If you are going to ask, "I have a great idea, what should I do now?" look at this page first. 

A few other frequent requests: 

  • If you are a web designer, and want to offer to redesign our website - thanks, but we're happy with it the way it is. 

  • If you want us to link to your web page - please review our linking policy first. 

  • If you want to offer us Search Engine Optimization services or offer to increase our ranking in searches or drive business to our website - yes, we get the idea. And no, we're not interested. Don't bother asking. 

  • Messages from qwaq@bpmlegal.com or "Gladys Albright" or entitled "What Republican Candidates are Saying" (or any other political SPAM) - if you have received a suspicious e-mail from someone with this return address or subject line, perhaps with an attachment claiming to be an "invoice" from us you should know that it is not from anyone at Brown & Michaels. Delete the e-mail immediately without opening the attachment or following the links! It's a virus or the site to which you are referred is infected with a virus. You don't need to warn us about them. These e-mails did not come from our computers, we have nothing to do with them, and while we'd love to be able to stop the flood, there's nothing we can do about them. 

    There is no such e-mail address as "qwaq" at our firm, and never has been. We don't employ "Gladys Albright", and never have, and would never send political spam from our office. 

    Virus writers have become very sneaky in recent years, and, unfortunately, at least one of them has chosen our domain name to create the fake return address in e-mails bearing his viruses. Or, someone whose computer has become infected once corresponded with someone at this firm, and the domain was harvested from their address book or inbox - it can happen any number of ways. If someone opens the attachment to such an e-mail or follows the link to the infected website, and their computer isn't protected by an antivirus program, it becomes infected. Infected computers then send out e-mails to everyone on that computer's user's address list, using the same phony return address and bearing the same virus as an attachment, and so it goes. 

    Still have a question? Then please read the following:

We do want to hear from you - but you should realize that just by sending a question by e-mail, you do not automatically become our client, and the provisions of attorney-client privilege will not apply to any information you send us through this web page.

We're not trying to duck responsibility - quite the opposite.  We do intend to maintain the confidentiality of any information you may send. If  you do ask us to represent you as your attorneys/agents and we accept the representation, the attorney-client privilege will apply, of course. However, it is possible that we already represent some other client whose interests might conflict with yours, or might in the future be in such a situation, and we cannot be forced to withdraw from representation of an old client (or be precluded from accepting a new one), because we received an unsolicited question by e-mail.

By clicking "I accept", you agree that, until you retain us to represent you and we accept that representation, no attorney-client relationship will exist between you and our firm. We may review any information you transmit to us, and you agree that our review of the information contained in e-mail and any attachments that you submit will not preclude our firm (or any attorney or agent in the firm) from representing a party in any matter where that information is relevant.

If it appears that we would be prevented from representation of you because of a prior representation of another client whose interests might conflict, we will inform you of that potential conflict. If you still want us to represent you, we would be required to get your consent and that of the other client before we could accept such  representation, which would require revealing at least some of your information to the other client and vice-versa. Unless both parties agree to waive the potential conflict, we would not be able to accept you as a client.

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