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Gone Phishing! (Unsolicited invoices)

By John Rule.

Notices are often issued by official government organisations such as the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Community Trade Mark Office (OHIM) about the dangers posed to businesses and individuals by unsolicited invitations and pre-payment invoices to file trade mark applications or to have your business included in an official looking Register or Directory.

A number of organisations are now issuing invoices which appear to be legitimate requests for payment for services provided to the addressee, on what looks like an official letterhead (often including an image of something that looks like an official logo). However, these are very often just unsolicited invoices for prepayment for a service which is of little use to the addressee. Individuals dealing with invoices on behalf of the recipient, eg an individual filing their own intellectual property applications or an accounts department in a business, may frequently assume that the invoices are genuine and pass them through for payment because they appear to be for part of the process of registering or maintaining an IP right.

Often the services offered on these invitations or invoices comprise entry in a (often official-sounding) register or directory in return for a fee. These directories are not linked to any official body and there is no obligation for an IP right owner to have their details listed in such a way. The only bodies able to provide legal protection for IP rights are the government offices themselves, eg UK Intellectual Property Office, the Community Trade Mark Office (OHIM) and the European Patent Office (EPO).

Other services offered are the preparation of trade mark applications for filing at an official Registry. Please note that the invoice covers only the preparation of an application which must be filed by the applicant himself. The applicant usually has to make the arrangements to pay the official fee too.

These invitations and invoices are generally sent out once an existing trade mark application has appeared on a public official database, since this is often used as the source of the information. They are not issued by the providers of the official databases.

Preparation of a trade mark (or any other type of IP) application would normally be done in consultation with your existing IP attorney and not by any outside third party without your prior instructions. In addition, if you have an attorney listed on your trade mark application or registration, any official letter relating to that right would be sent by the official body to the attorney.

Contact us if you are in any doubt about any mail of this type which you have received.

 

This news item may contain information of general interest about current legal issues, but does not contain legal advice.

 

 

This news item may contain information of general interest about current legal issues, but does not contain legal advice.