A client recently forwarded me the document below that they received in the mail regarding their trademark. While the service may not be a complete scam – presuming they do file maintenance documents necessary to ensure that a trademark registration is not cancelled – it contains a variety of mis-information and comes from the deceptive name of “Patent & Trademark Agency LLC” that sounds somewhat like a government entity (and they use a .org domain name).
Here are some of the problems with this offering:
Are they providing legal services? Or merely filling in forms? Can they help determine what constitutes continued use of the trademark in commerce – or excusable non-use? Can they help determine what can and should be done if the mark has changed slightly over the years?
If they are no providing legal services, why do they charge so much money (even when you subtract the government fees)?
The expiration date is WRONG. The “Declaration of Continued” use must be filed by the sixth anniversary of the registration, not the fifth. And there is an additional 6 month grace period before it will be canceled.
The information that the trademark “may subsequently be renewed for five years at a time” is also incorrect.
I have forwarded a copy of this document to the USPTO Solicitor’s office. If you or your client received one, I encourage you to do the same.
I received one of these letters from Patent & Trademark Agency. You are correct, The fees are nearly triple the actual the cost . Plus, we have never done business with them.
Thank you for posting this Blog.
Ditto. Unfortunately “Patent & Trademark Agency LLC” is one of the hoard of scam artists that have sprung up in recent years, impersonating gov’t offices and offering to renew your patents or trademarks for grossly inflated fees. This one charges a 250% MARKUP for the first class in the renewal. DON’T RESPOND to these scams. Go directly to the US Patent Office site: uspto.gov
Me too. Being a small business owner, there are so many scams to watch out for. It always pays to look at any bill that you don’t pay on a regular basis as a scam first. Check them out online like I did and you’ll find that for every scam out there, there are great people like those who created this blog to blow the whistle on them. Thanks for posting the blog. The call centers that claim to be ATT are real gems too.
Good thing the accounting dept who receives the mail gave this to me (Marketing), rather than thinking to have to pay this.
And good thing I have had the experience of doing Trade Marks becuase this looks very official. This is very sneaky.
The tip off to me was the fact that they did not list the fees upfront and it said they would send an invoice after we sent in the signed document. THe government with any division, cleary and upfront directs you on the fees involved and payment is always due upfront. (Think passport renewals).
Plus the logo they included looks very poor, as if it was scanned 5th generation from a patent book, that it does not even look like the real logo mark.
my business partner received the letter from “Patent and Trademark Agency LLC” and she thought it was legit so she signed it and mailed it back to them. We received an invoice about a month later. My question is if we are legally binded to pay the amount or pay them at all, since everywhere says they are a scam and the information they list is incorrect (expiration times and saying renewal time is 5 years), any help is appreciated, thank you
Thanks for your comment Jarrod. Sorry to hear about your experience. I cannot comment on your specific issue for a variety of reasons. It recommend you contact an attorney that handles such claims, and to contact the FTC and your state attorney general’s office regarding your situation.
My company just received the exact same invoice from Patent & Trademark Agency. I have never paid this company in the past so thought I better google it to find out more. I’m not responding or paying it either. This has scam written all over it. The last couple years I’ve received a few different scam invoices from different parts of the world all claiming to be for patents ect.