A trusting generation, says Morgan Hill’s
”
flower lady
”
Margaret Johnston, needs to beware of scam artists to whom she
fell victim this past summer.
MORGAN HILL
A trusting generation, says Morgan Hill’s “flower lady” Margaret Johnston, needs to beware of scam artists to whom she fell victim this past summer.
The 81-year-old community volunteer is one of 17,000 people whom the Federal Trade Commission says were scammed by a fraudulent patent company, Patent Trademark Institute of New York, or PTI.
The invention promoter is accused of victimizing Johnston.
Johnston, who is known for her many volunteer activities with the Senior Center as well as for her green thumb which keeps the flowers blooming downtown, wants to talk about her experience to help others.
“I would like to keep someone from falling into the trap like I did,” she said.
Little did she think, she said, that when she started the patent process 20 years ago, that she would end up without a patent and $800 poorer through the experience.
Her ingenious invention, a birthday candle board tray, is eminently suited for her work with the Senior Center, as it holds 100 candles. She describes it as a circular board, approximately two feet in diameter with holes for the candles set on a turntable base.
“Senior citizens like to see their years identified by candles,” she said.
The idea came from her mother, she said, and she had hoped to have the invention patented while her mother was still alive. The candle board was a part of the community culture in the small town in South Dakota where she grew up, she said. Whenever there was a birthday, the candle board was a part of the celebration.
“When I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, raising my kids, a black walnut tree went down on our property, and my mother said, ‘Maybe you should make one of those boards,'” she said. “It was an old idea, nothing really, but when we would use it from time to time, people would say, ‘Why can’t I have one of those,’ and I knew it would be a good thing.”
After working with San Francisco patent attorney David Pressman for approximately two and a half years, Johnston said she dropped the idea because she was spending nearly all of her time taking care of her mother, and she didn’t think about the idea again until three or four years ago.
She said the company, PTI, seemed okay at first, “one of these outfits recommending you get in touch with them,” but after she put down $800 for the next step, she said she could see the patent process “wasn’t going anyplace.” She then contacted the Federal Trade Commission to report the scam.
Not long afterward, she said, the ABC news show, “Good Morning America,” contacted her because they were compiling a segment on fraud. She talked to the producers, later saw the show, then promptly forgot about it, she said.
Four weeks ago, however, she received a call from KGO-TV, interested in her story for the “7 On Your Side” segment.
“I was amazed when they told me that this company had scammed 17,000 people over a seven-year period, not one patent came out of any of those,” she said. “They were fined $60 million, obviously it put them out of business, but I never got any money back.”
Johnston said she knows others besides senior citizens can be fooled by bogus companies, but she believes seniors are particularly vulnerable and hopes her experience is a cautionary tale for others.
“We’re the trusting generation,” she said. “We grew up with a handshake as a promise. And we still are so trusting. It is really sad to see these people taking advantage of people’s trust.”
