Latest Scam - unofficial Intellectual Property registration services

The UK Intellectual Property Office has warned that several businesses seeking to protect their intellectual property and brand rights are increasingly being targeted by certain dishonest organisations.

Once trade mark and patent applications are advertised, they enter the public domain and this has provided an opportunity for organisations to write to proprietors often using names, abbreviations and emblems that appear to be official, inviting the applicants to register their trade marks and patents in various official sounding registers or publications, in return for payment of an invoice.

These are scams as the organisations are not linked to any official patent or trade mark office and the services they are offering are not official services. The only offices which are able to provide legal protection for patents, designs and trade marks in the UK are the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office, the Community Trade Mark Office (more formally known as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, as well as other national trade mark registries and patent offices.

If you receive a letter or invoice, check carefully whether it comes from an official source and if you are in any doubt, please contact us.

Bogus organisations

Some of the bogus organisations known to operate in this area include:

FIPTR – Federated Institute for Patent & Trademark Registry, Florida
IOPTS – International Patent & Trademark Service, LLC, South Carolina
WIG – Wirtschaftszentrale for Industrie, Zurich, Switzerland
EIEC – European Institute for Economy and Commerce, Brussels
CPI – Company for Publications and Information Anstalt, Lichtenstein
Trademark Publisher GMBH, Vienna
WIHH – Wirtschaftregister fur Industrie, Handel, Handwerk AG, Baar, Switzerland

Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the
accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.

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