What are trademark scams?

Many scam artists attempt to solicit money from trademark owners by sending notices that appear to be authentic but are meant to mislead or fraudulently induce payment for unnecessary or nonexistent services. Unfortunately, considering trademark filings are a affair of public record, many bad actors utilize the filing information to casualty upon the owners by seeming legitimate. An instance of a widely -known scam is shown below.

Example of a Scam trademark mailer received requesting coin:

Who is behind the scams?

It's hard to know who is behind the scams. They are ordinarily private companies and individuals non affiliated with the United states Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or any other official agency. They oftentimes use misleading, official-sounding visitor names with terms such as United States, trademark, office, agency, and services. Nosotros've included a list of known scammers in this commodity.

How exercise they behave out the scams?

Due to the public nature of trademark filings, scammers are able to obtain information regarding the trademark owner and the mark itself from the trademark registry. This information includes the trademark owner's proper name, email, mailing address, details of the mark's filing date, maintenance dates, and goods and services.

The scammers use this information to send solicitations and notices that often create a sense of urgency and lead the trademark owner to believe the status of the marking is at take a chance. Common types of solicitations include offers to assist with budgeted renewals, maintenance filings, office actions, to publish the mark in a individual database, and to rent the company as a scout service—always at a cost.

How to spot scams.

If you receive a solicitation or notice, first look at who sent it. For our clients, all fees are paid by Dinsmore & Shohl, and all invoices come direct from Dinsmore on Dinsmore letterhead. All official correspondence from the USPTO will be sent via email to whomever filed the trademark, pregnant it will likely be sent directly to your trademark attorney. All USPTO correspondence will clearly state it is from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and will be sent via e-mail. The electronic mail address will end in ".uspto.gov," and the concrete address volition be in Alexandria, Virginia.

Scams oftentimes list the incorrect deadline date for renewals and maintenance filings and charge much higher fees than the USPTO does. The fine print volition likely contain linguistic communication such as: "this is not an invoice simply a solicitation without an obligation to pay," "a private business that is not endorsed past or affiliated with the U.S. government," or "this service is optional." Other discrepancies oftentimes found in trademark scams include typos and grammatical errors.

What to do if you meet a scam.

If you receive a scam mailing, throw it away, delete it, or forward it to your trademark attorney. Do not send whatsoever money or information. If you do, you may non be able to recover it. All payments (including all filing fees) will come from Dinsmore & Shohl on Dinsmore letterhead.

The FTC[i] does non resolve private consumer complaints, but it tin can begin investigations and prosecutions based on widespread complaints about item companies or business practices. This webpage[2] lists contempo cases that resulted in refunds, i of which is a patent scam case[iii] that garnered 5,503 refunds.

The FTC also has a webpage[4] dedicated solely to helping people seek recourse confronting companies that either scammed or deceived them. This includes sample letters to send to the scammer and tips on how to file complaints. It also warns against recovery scams detailed on its website.[5]

The Better Business organisation Bureau (BBB) has a form[6] victims can fill out to written report a scam as well. The BBB Scam Tracker has 36 reports filed in the U.S. regarding fake invoices or supplier bills pertaining to trademarks since February 2015. Some of the companies listed include the post-obit names.

  • Globe Trademark Register
  • WTP Service
  • Patent Trademark Bureau
  • ITP Services
  • Trademark Compliance Office
  • U.Due south. Trademark Compliance Office
  • Trademark Renewal Service
  • International Patent & Trademark Alphabetize

These are known scams. Ignore whatever correspondence from these entities. There is a total list of known scams here[seven].

Additional information can exist institute at: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/circumspection-misleading-notices