Beware of Trademark Renewal Solicitations and Scams

By
March 13, 2012

Trademark owners today face many challenges, and unfortunately these challenges increasingly take the form of trademark renewal services which often times do not deliver as promised. While obtaining a federal trademark registration has many important benefits to the trademark owner, one downside is that the list of trademark owners is available to the public. Many of these trademark service companies use official looking notices or names designed to appear as if they are from a government agency (e.g., the “United States Trademark Registration Office” instead of the actual official agency the United States Patent and Trademark Office) to notify trademark owners of upcoming trademark deadlines. These service providers often provide false or misleading deadlines causing trademark owners to believe that an immediate payment and response is necessary or else their valuable trademark rights will be lost. In fact, many of these companies take a fee and do little if anything to advance the trademark owner’s rights. Some even will send out a demand of immediate payment due on deadlines or filings the trademark owner has already addressed – effectively trying to lead the trademark owner to make payments to their company when no pending renewals or fees are due. Remember, the official United States Patent & Trademark Office will not contact you to remind you of renewal deadlines – they expect you to keep these deadlines in mind without the government’s help. If you do need assistance with docketing and maintaining your trademark rights, contact Ruder Ware to help. If your company or marketing department receives a notice of this type related to your company’s trademarks, contact Ruder Ware before you pay anything. Our team at Ruder Ware can help you identify legitimate and imaginary deadlines and make sure your trademark rights are protected. If you have questions regarding the above, please contact Steve Lipowski, the author of this article, or any of the attorneys in the Business Transactions Practice Group of Ruder Ware.

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