Have you been plagued by unsolicited requests for money or ‘spam’ invoices? If you have recently filed a trade mark application in the UK or Europe, then the chances are you will have received an unwelcome approach.
There is hope….
As we have advised previously, the ‘rogue’ organisations behind the sending of the demands acquire information about an applicant’s contact details from the UK IPO or OHIM database. The demands for payment of fees are at worst totally fictitious, or at best are seeking extortionate fees for carrying out a renewal, that may or may not be carried out. They should not be responded to.
There is hope! The UK Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) has joined forces with the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and the UK IPO to ‘up the ante’, and seek to find an effective way of challenging the rogue organisations. This is likely to be centered upon actions for passing off and trademark infringement as the ‘scam’ emails and invoices refer to trademarks (registered and pending), without the authorisation of the brand owner.
For now, we recommend that heed is taken of the warning provided by the UK IPO that can be seen at www.ipo.gov.uk/warning, and if you are in any doubt about the authenticity of any communications that you have received, please get in touch – do not send any payment!