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Trademark applicants beware : LoTempio Law Blog

Recently the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a warning to all trademark applicants regarding ?Non-USPTO Solicitations that Resemble Official USPTO Communications.?United States Patent and Trademark Office

The trademark office warned that companies not affiliated with the USPTO were using the USPTO database to find and locate new trademark applicants and are sending out notices that resembled an official notice.

Shortly thereafter a few of my recent trademark applicants called me and asked me if they should pay "bill" from the trademark office. I told them it was just a scam solicitation and that the services they were soliciting will be taken care of by my office. You have to wonder how many people received this type of letter and just paid it thinking they were paying an official bill.

I wonder how many big companies receive letters like this and it goes to their accounting department just gets paid. The companies sending out these letters must be making money off it otherwise they wouldn't continue to send these letters out.

Is what they are doing illegal? Probably not. Supposedly they are providing the services which they tout in the letter. Each one of those services are services that a trademark applicant could possibly use. However does every trademark applicant need those services?

The bottom line it's just the sleazy way that it's presented; sending out letters that confuse somebody to believe that it's an official government invoice.

Here's an example of letter that a trademark applicant received:United States Trademark Registration OfficeIn the United States patent office warning they listed examples of services which the letters solicit, which so happen to coincide with the letter that I posted above:

  • for legal services;
  • for trademark monitoring services;
  • to record trademarks with U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and
  • to ?register? trademarks in the company?s own private registry.


The USPTO indicates that the companies use names that resemble the USPTO name, including, for example, the terms "United States" or ?U.S.? this letter clearly tries to confuse people by using the name "United States Trademark Registration Office."

USPTO warning page further goes on to say:

Increasingly, some of the more unscrupulous companies attempt to make their solicitations mimic the look of official government documents rather than the look of a typical commercial or legal solicitation by emphasizing official government data like the USPTO application serial number, the registration number, the International Class(es), filing dates, and other information that is publicly available from USPTO records. Many refer to other government agencies and sections of the U.S. Code. Most require ?fees? to be paid.

All official correspondence will be from the ?United States Patent and Trademark Office? in Alexandria, VA, and if by e-mail, specifically from the domain ?@uspto.gov.?

I tried a Google search using the words "United States Trademark Registration Office" and mostly legitimate sites, particularly the actual website for United States Patent and Trademark Office came up on the first page of the Google search.

Obviously the name is used to confuse the people who receive this letter; it actually confused a Google search. I did find one article recently published by David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times where he reports about the USPTO notice and how these companies are "preying on the unwary with official looking letters."

I guess the bottom line is don't just pay official looking bills. Understand that once you file a trademark application and your application is posted on the USPTO website you'll be added to a mailing list and likely become a target of these solicitations. Before you pay anything to anyone: make sure you know what a paying it for and who you are paying it to.

Source: http://www.lotempiolaw.com/2012/03/articles/trademarks/trademark-applicants-beware/

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