Trademark and Patent Scams

PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS TO AVOID BEING A VICTIM

A bad thing about being an inventor is that much of the information you file is in the public domain. Criminals can easily find your name and contact info along with the status of your patent and trademark filings (note that provisional patent apps are never published and do not expose your personal info). This gives the bad guys official looking ways to first connect with you and then to scam dollars from you.

If you file with an attorney, you can rely on the attorney to keep you out of harm's way. But if you file on your own, then you need to pay attention. Below are two emails I received from the USPTO in the past week. The top one is a scam and the bottom one is real.

How did I know the top one is a scam? The "verification procedure" it details is bogus. This trademark has been allowed and is now published for opposition. If no one objects it will be issued. Also, the response is to "teas@usptonotices.com" which is not a real USPTO address. USPTO uses .gov for its website and emails.

For comparison, a real USPTO email is shown at the bottom.

Pay attention and don't get scammed! If you want help with your patent and trademark strategy, please feel free to contact Invention City here.