{3:00 minutes to read} One of the more frequent questions I get from clients is, “Why am I getting this invoice? I thought I already paid you for my trademark.” Another potential victim of an increasingly popular scam.
When a trademark application is filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the entire application, including the trademark owner’s name and address, become publicly available through the USPTO website. Shortly after an application is filed, or shortly before a maintenance filing is due, scam companies will often send a letter to the owner that looks like official correspondence from the USPTO. The letter notifies the trademark owner that they owe money to the USPTO, which they don’t. But since it does look like official correspondence, a lot of trademark owners understandably get fooled.
Another common scam comes in the form of an email from a Chinese law firm notifying the trademark owner that their trademark was registered as a domain name in China. The email kindly offers to help the owner get it back. The trademark may indeed have been registered as a domain name in China, but I don’t suggest working with the law firm that was nice enough to let you know about it. That’s a topic for another blog article.
When you file a trademark application through an attorney, your attorney will be listed as the official correspondent for your trademark application. Anything that is coming from anyone else is likely a scam. All official correspondence will come from the USPTO in Alexandria, Virginia. Emails come from the domain @uspto.gov. So if the correspondence is not from your attorney and is not from the USPTO in Alexandria, it’s a scam.
These letters are sent from all over the world. The USPTO maintains a list of scam companies of which it is aware. There are over 40 companies on the list. Trademark owners can always check the list if they need further assurances about whether a piece of correspondence is legitimate or not. Alternatively, a trademark owner can always send the correspondence in question to their attorney to review.
Don’t get fooled. Take the extra step to check the validity of the correspondence. A lot of these companies are located outside the United States and it can be difficult to get your money back.
Kelly Weiner
Trademark Counsel
Law Office of Kelly Weiner PLLC
175 Varick Street, Fl 6
New York, New York 10014
(E) info@kellyweinerlaw.com
(P) 212.360.2307
Comment section