A client forwarded me the latest scam they received this week, this one from WPTR or World Patent and Trademark Register.
It is not from the government. It does not provide any tangible value.
The bill in the amount of $2,356.00 is outrageous. Their private registry has no real value and is not consulted by any professional I have met in more than 20 years in the field of trademarks.
It appears that last year the scam went by IPTR, and before that by “IPTI.” This private database or ‘international registry’ has not legal or practical value, it has no affiliation with any government agency. The cost of $2356 is outrageous – because the value is worth $0.
Will the USPTO, TPAC, the Department of Justice, the Small Business Administration, the Federal Trademark Commission, the Department of Commerce, or the U.S. Postal Service ever get serious about stopping these scam solicitations and prosecuting the offenders?
For more on such scams, see:
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- World Trademark Review: Call for USPTO to “pound its fist more loudly” in efforts to tackle trademark solicitation scams
- Video:
Hello. Yesterday I recieved one in the mail in Australia for a trademark that was registered with the USPTO about 4 weeks ago.
The bill was AUD2759.
I thought it was a scam as soon as I saw it.
Regards, Gary.
We have had countless documents posted to us from these cabbages. Two more arrived on my desk this morning. Trouble is they look quite real, especially when we were registering for IP protection in Europe.
Thanks, got such today. Looks quite real, but after more detailed view realized that’s scam.
Received my letter from WPTR today with my logo on the page. Immediately saw the fee of $2356.00 and almost fainted. Once I decided to read everything, large and small print, front and back realized it was not a bill but a solicitation that could be ignored. That was verified once I looked it up on the internet.
Thank you for this! I just got a letter in the mail and almost immediately knew it was fake. I had the same amount of $2356 ‘due’ and even had our trademark on it. Thanks to this page, I confirmed it was fake and threw it away.
Have received several of these whenever I register a patent and they had/have a bank account in Romania. The UKIPO does nothing either, they have details of their address and bank accounts and it is obviously a scam, but possibly as they are offering to enter details on their database for a fee this is not illegal – any credibility of the organisation is implied, not stated. I have complained and warned others of this on Linked-In and suggest everyone does the same to drive these chancers out of business.
I received the same letter from WPTR as well. Now we know that they are scammers, but how the hell do they have information about people who registered a patent?
Essentially all trademark application information submitted to the USPTO is a public record and relatively easily acquired.
I have gotten these for years. If they have an email, such as WPTR, I write something very, very rude on the invoice, scan and email from a dummy account. Make sure you note on the invoice that they should “Rot and Die”! You get a minor satisfaction.