February 4, 2016
Warning: Owners of US trade marks targeted with spam
Warning: Owners of US trade marks targeted with spam
Clients may already be on their guard for unsolicited letters and official looking invoices sent by unscrupulous companies targeting the owners of UK and Community trade marks. This spam correspondence usually requests extortionate fee payments for renewals, publication in unofficial Registers of Trade Marks, and other spurious and often deceptive services. Readers of our blog will recall that we recently posted about the stiff sanctions that were imposed upon one such scammer by the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) – read here. We are now aware that the owners of US trade marks have also started receiving similar such unsolicited correspondence, often referencing upcoming examination deadlines and offering US trade mark monitoring services. A number of US based companies are gaining notoriety for actively sending such unsolicited correspondence that may deliberately resemble official US Patent & Trade Mark Office (‘USPTO’) communications. A list of these parties can be found on the USPTO website at: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/non-uspto-solicitations. These companies are believed to be using US trade mark application and registration information from the USPTO's online databases to send solicitations directly to the trade mark owners, irrespective of whether or not they have a professional representative. We are aware of one particular enterprise, known as ‘Trademark Safeguard’, which has already contacted a number of our clients directly in this way. Please note that any official correspondence from an official Trade Mark Office will always be sent to your appointed professional representative, who should then forward it on to you. It follows that we urge you to pay close attention to the source of any correspondence that you receive directly (including invoices or reminders relating to your trade mark application or registration) from any other party. If you are ever in any doubt as to the validity of any such correspondence, we would encourage you to forward these solicitations on to us for review.
Tags
Trademarks

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