According to a Justice Department press release, there was finally a criminal case brought against a trademark scam operator last weekend: California Man Charged in Mass Mailing Scam Aimed at Holders of U.S. Trademarks.
The individual was apparently behind the Trademark Compliance Center (TCC) (aka Trademark Compliance Office (TCO)) and never provided the customs registration services that he promised to customers.
The individual was charged with 12 counts of mail fraud and 4 counts of aggravated identity theft.
This is an interesting development in the effort to combat trademark scams. A client of ours just emailed me last week inquiring about a solicitation received in the mail from a U.S. Trademark Compliance Office.
Perhaps this action by the government will be enough to scare other sc
am operators, but I doubt it. We will need a more concerted effort to get rid of them.
