It is a familiar tale. You get the day’s stack of mail and start to flip through it to figure out whether it is the usual junk, there is something good (like the check you were expecting), something less pleasant but necessary (like an invoice from your supplier), or one of those out-of-the-blue pains-in-the-butt that just add to your to do list and distract from more important stuff.
Today’s stack includes a fairly plain but official looking envelope from the Trademark Renewal Service announcing a TRADEMARK CANCELLATION ADVISORY. Your trademark, the protection for the very name of your company and the brand your customers know, appears to be on the verge of being canceled from the Federal Trademark Register. This would be one of those distractions that business owners dread. How could this happen and what do you need to do about it? The real answer is that this is a scam, particularly if you have good trademark counsel looking after your filing.
We have periodically warned about companies contacting trademark owners directly with offers to take actions, often with dire warnings of trademark cancellation if the action is not taken. And always with a fee that is due immediately.
We now have yet another scam rearing its ugly head. One of our clients has received a TRADEMARK CANCELLATION ADVISORY from an operation called the Trademark Renewal Service, located in Washington, D.C. This ADVISORY asks for $200, for which it will send out the paperwork by which the trademark applicant can make the filing to avoid cancellation.
Anybody taking up this offer will pay $200 for documents that are already available for free on the US Patent and Trademark Office website.
What is most interesting about this ADVISORY is that the Knull Group had already made the proper filing on behalf of its client and the US Patent and Trademark Office had accepted the filing months ago. We maintain a docket of all filings that our clients need to have made and act on them in a timely fashion.
As always, be vigilant and view with skepticism any offer that can’t be traced to a legitimate government agency. Even then, you are better off running it by your attorney before you get too excited about what needs to be done about it. We are always willing to take a quick look at an “official looking” notice related to your business to let you know whether it is legit, free of charge.
This is a Guest Blog by Legal Expert Charles H. Knull (aka. Chuck). Chuck is the founder and owner of Knull P.C., an intellectual property boutique law firm with offices in Cooperstown, NY and New York City. He is focused on trademark and copyright dispute resolution and counseling. Contact him via www.KnullPC.com/contact.
Leave A Comment