Recently, new scams which cheat unsuspecting trademark applicants out of large sums of money have mushroomed in a big way. Some of our clients have reported receiving unsolicited letters and e-mails from third parties. These letters seem legal and proper, appearing with seals and official sounding names such as “TM Collection Edition 2010 – International Register of Trademarks”, “RIPT – Register of International Patents and Trademarks”, “IBIP – International Bureau for Intellectual Property” and so forth, informing them that their trademark applications are due for registration, and requesting for a payment of registration fees.

Many of these scammers appear to originate from European countries, and attempt to con not only applicants filing international trademark applications, but also those filing national applications. A sample of one of the scam letters received by our clients is attached, to show just how convincing these scammers can be (Note: Details have been removed at our client’s request).