The United States Patent & Trademark Office makes existing trademark registrations and pending trademark applications public record. These records include:
- The trademark owner’s name;
- Trademark owner’s address;
- Trademark sought for protection; and
- Our firm’s information.
This data is mined for a number of different scams including domain slamming. However, the scams all seek to instill some level of urgency and often take forms that appear to be from a governmental agency.
International Trademark Registry
This scam requests payment simply to put your trademark brand into an arbitrary listing. By analogy it is like getting on the list of “Who’s Who of Middle School Kickball Players.” Getting listed on the service is meaningless.
Trademark Renewal Services
These scammers sent you a carbon-copy, tractor-feed form that appears governmental in nature. They warn that failure to renew your trademark will result in its abandonment. Often times, they are requesting hundreds of dollars to simply remind you a few months later to renew your trademark. We’ve noticed that these scammers always sent this form out before it is even possible to pay the renewal fee. They need to send this out early to preempt communications from the law firm that handled the trademark application in the first place. Again, a waste of money.
Domain Slamming
A form of domain slamming frequently comes from China in which the brand names of U.S. companies are allegedly applied for by a third party and the ISP benevolently contacts the U.S. company to see if they object.
Sample Scam Forms
Summary
Whether you use our firm or another for your trademark matters, do not fall for these forms and emails. Contact your trademark attorney first and do not reply to these scammers.