Recently, we have seen an uptick in a trademark solicitation scam being sent to our clients. These solicitations claim to be from a law firm that has been asked to file a trademark application on behalf of a third party that happens to have the same name, with language similar to the following:
The sender then claims to be willing to facilitate trademark registration services for the recipient prior to registering the mark on behalf of the other company, and threatens that if the recipient does not act quickly, the other company will register the recipient's brand name:
The email often includes a colorful and professional-looking signature block and links to a website to further convince business owners that the outreach is legitimate. Some of the names we have seen in these solicitations include Lawsuit Neo, Trademark Blink, Trademark Crafty, Trademark Sprint and Trademark Rising.
These solicitations are false and if you receive one, you can safely ignore it. It is, however, a good opportunity to review your brand strength and evaluate if legitimate trademark protection makes sense for your company. If you have any questions about the validity of a trademark solicitation, or would like to discuss protecting your business name through trademark registration, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We have extensive experience securing and protecting the trademark rights of our clients and can help you evaluate if this is the right option for you. We also offer docketing services at no cost to monitor and police the use of your company name by potential competitors, even if you do not have a registered trademark.
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