From time to time our clients with registered United States Trademarks receive correspondence from organizations requesting fees for various trademark services.  These correspondences are formatted to look as if they are official governmental communications, but they are not.  In fact most are pure scams, and the balance are misrepresenting that the fees are required for some trademark filing or activity.  Some claim to extend protection internationally, others offer to include the trademark in a register or compilation of trademarks, and some offer to make filings at the U.S. Trademark Office.  At the end of the day none of these solicitations will result in any meaningful, additional trademark rights and most will take the money and do nothing at all.  A small fraction may actually file something, but at exorbitant fees.

One particularly deceptive example we recently received from a client is attached hereto.  Note they are even so bold as to refer to their “organization” as the “patent and trademark office” and maintain a website “patenttrademarkoffice.org.”  Upon attempting to access that Site, our software determined that the server for this web address was located in the Russian Federation, a hot bed of fraudulent internet activity.

Moreover a deeper inspection of internet information revealed that this is indeed a scam that has been active for several years in one variant or another.

If you receive such a solicitation, forward it to us and we will determine whether it is a legitimate communication.

Please contact Michael E. Storck at (716-853-5100) for further information.