At least once a month, clients send me urgent messages that they received notices that appear to be official government correspondence about their trademark applications or trademark registrations. Typically, these notices (sometimes even in the form of an invoice) demand the payment of various fees to insure their trademarks are in compliance. However, on a quick review of these notices, it becomes immediately apparent they are all bogus. In the last several years there has been a growing cottage industry of private companies trolling for customers by using misleading trademark “notices.” They often charge fees for services that are not necessary or are often inflated from the official government fees. The problem has become so pervasive that the actual U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”) held a public seminar last month on the matter and devotes a page to it on the actual, official USPTO website to educate the public.
Continue reading “The Era of Fake — Solicitations from Fake “Official” Trademark Offices”