Our trademark attorneys receive questions every week from clients asking if a letter they received requesting payment for a trademark renewal, trademark registration, or trademark database is a trademark scam. The answer is always either yes, this is a scam or well it may be an actual service, but it is completely superfluous.
All official correspondence regarding your trademark application or trademark registration from the United States Trademark Office will be sent by the Trademark Office to your attorney of record. These unofficial services or scams typically avoid sending trademark correspondence to a trademark attorney because the trademark attorney will recognize the letter as a scam or unnecessary trademark service. Our trademark attorneys have seen several recent scams that tell the trademark registrant their trademark registration is expiring, but the scam has the incorrect date or the incorrect registration number. This is a definite scam. Further information can be found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website at https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/caution-misleading-notices .
A benefit of hiring a trademark attorney is that the trademark applicant will know all official trademark correspondence from the Trademark Office will go through the trademark attorney. Thus every letter the trademark owner receives can be discarded as a scam. However, if you still have questions please feel free to contact our office. Our trademark attorneys would be happy to tell you if the letter really is a scam, or if it is official. Also we can provide trademark deadline tracking for when you actually do have to pay a fee to the Trademark Office to renew your trademark registration.