Recently, some of our clients received trademark "scam" solicitation letters from what appears to be the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"), but these are actually commercial trademark renewal services that are not affiliated at all with the government, let alone the USPTO.  These letters notified our clients that their registered marks would be cancelled unless they paid money immediately to the trademark renewal service.  If you receive one of these letters, please know that they do not originate from the USPTO and they often contain inaccurate information with regard to renewal deadlines, governmental fees, and the status of your registered mark.

Should I be receiving any correspondence from the USPTO?

If we represent you with regard to trademark matters, then the answer is no.  In this case, we have taken the necessary steps to update the correspondence address with the USPTO so that it reflects our address.  Thus, all correspondence from the USPTO is sent to us and we promptly correspond with you regarding the substance of the communication from the USPTO.

How do these trademark renewal services get my address in the first place?

When a trademark application is filed, the USPTO requires the address of the owner of the mark.  All information relating to your trademark application is publicly accessible via the USPTO website.  These companies harvest these records and then send you unsolicited correspondence regarding the upcoming expiration of your mark unless you send them money to renew the mark.  Once again, the information contained in these letters is often inaccurate and sometimes intentionally contain false information in an effort to entice you into paying them promptly for their "service."  Also, the fees that are charged are generally inflated.

What are the names of some of these trademark renewal services that I should be wary of?

Names of such companies include the United States Trademark Maintenance Service (Houston, TX), the United States Trademark Center (Washington, D.C.), Trademark Info Corp. (AG) (New York, NY), and others.

What steps should I take upon receiving a trademark renewal notice?

You can contact these companies and request to be removed from their mailing list.  If you have any questions about whether or not to respond to such a notice, please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have -- we strongly advise you to contact us prior to sending a response and/or any money to these companies.  Please know that these are generally "scam" solicitations and they should be ignored and discarded.

How can I proactively deal with this issue?

Educate and alert employees, partners, and others about these solicitations so that they are aware of how to handle them and what to do upon receiving them.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please contact Ralph F. Manning, Esquire at 412.594.5540 or rmanning@tuckerlaw.com or Lee Kim, Esquire at 412.594.3915 or lkim@tuckerlaw.com of the Tucker Arensberg, P.C. Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group.

The attorneys at Tucker Arensberg, P.C. help individuals and businesses protect their intellectual property rights through intellectual property and technology license arrangements, nondisclosure agreements, trade secret protection and patent, trademark, servicemark and copyright registration, patent preparation and prosecution, patent litigation and licensing.