Beware of official looking invoices for payment for registration of your overseas trade mark

Two new scams are doing the rounds relating to the registration of trade marks in Europe and internationally.

The World Intelligent Property Office is impersonating the World Intellectual Property Office sending out invoices for the registration and publication of your International mark.

Also, authentic looking invoices, seemingly from OHIM, demanding immediate payment of a registration or application fee for a recently accepted Community Trade Mark are being sent directly to the applicant for the trade mark.

The Trade Marks and Designs Registration office of the European Union is not in the practice of writing to applicants directly. If you receive correspondence, particularly correspondence requesting payment, check the authenticity of the source and if still in doubt, do not pay and refer it to your patent attorney.

If we are acting on your behalf, you can expect all invoices for official fees to be addressed to our firm and not to be sent to you directly.

This is merely one example of the scams that do the rounds on a regular basis.

8 January 2015