The notice below from PATENT & TRADEMARK RESOURCE CENTER is not from the government, not from the USPTO. I received this offer last week regarding my registration for TTABULATOR®.
Note that the USPTO does have several “Patent and Trademark Resource Centers” around the country which makes the name of the service provider extra confusing. See USPTO page here.
The fee is not cheap. And it is not clear what services they provide? Is this a Section 8 renewal, or 8 and 15? Do they provided legal advice about which renewal is appropriate, whether the mark is in use or in use for all the goods and services in the registration, and what type of evidence of use is appropriate? Are they attorneys and members of the bar? What happens in the Section 8 filing is rejected, are there additional fees to respond? Their address is listed as a PO Box.
Their website contains misinformation. For example, it states that ” the USPTO will never contact you directly.” That is no longer true – if a registrant has an email address in the record for correspondence, the USPTO will send a reminder when the Section 8 declaration filing window begins.
Beware of such offers. Read the fine print. Contact your attorney. Report scams to the FTC and USPTO.
For more information, see:
- How to avoid being taken by a trademark scam
- WARNING: Non-USPTO Solicitations That May Resemble Official USPTO Communications
PATENT & TRADEMARK RESOURCE CENTER solicitation
