Trademarked and targeted: Outsmarting the renewal scam game

Intellectual property owners are being targeted by unsolicited payment requests and renewal reminders sent by fraudsters purporting to be from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and similar organisations.

These scams typically take the form of invoices requesting payment for trade marks, patents, or designs services, with trade mark renewal scams being the most common. The UKIPO’s Head of Customer Experience, Caroline Rich, commented last year that “recent examples we’re seeing can be very convincing at first glance, so it’s important to remain vigilant.”

Common traits of fraudulent communications are:

• Urgent language
• Inflated costs
• Sent from an unfamiliar organisation
• Suspicious email addresses or letterheads

Whilst there are organisations out there which legitimately offer to manage and renew trade mark portfolios, this cannot be said for all. See this example of a scam invoice published by the UKIPO. The high prevalence of fraudulent payment reminders in recent years has led to the government releasing guidance on avoiding misleading payment requests which is a helpful resource for intellectual property owners. 

Tips to stay vigilant

We strongly advise intellectual property owners to check the following elements of any communications purporting to be from an official intellectual property office or related service provider:

• Sender: official requests should come from the UKIPO or one of the organisations listed here. Be wary of impersonation of these organisations; check the email address and letterheads of any communications, and look up the names of any individual claiming to work for these organisations. When communicating with third-party service providers you have engaged to assist with managing your intellectual property rights, ensure communications are in the expected format and ideally from known contacts.
• Tone: be wary of urgent language applying pressure to act quickly. Red or bold text, along with language such as ‘URGENT’, can be a tell-tale sign that a communication is a scam.
• Inflated Fees: check the usual fees for any invoices or payment for services being requested. For example, at the date of writing, trade mark renewal fees in the UK are around £200, patent renewal fees are between £70-£610 depending on the year of renewal, and registered design rights renewal fees are between £70-£140 depending on the year of renewal.
• Suspicious Details: ensure there are no suspicious details in the communication, such as an unexpected currency being used, inaccurate logos or email signatures, or incorrect details about you and your relevant intellectual property rights.

Further Support

If you are uncertain whether a payment request is legitimate, send a copy to misleadinginvoices@ipo.gov.uk and a member of the UKIPO team will respond to you.

You can report misleading invoices to the Action Fraud online reporting tool here, and also report the incident to your local Trading Standards Office.

If you are unsure whether your intellectual property rights are due for renewal or would like support in managing your intellectual property portfolio, please contact the CMS Trade Mark Records Team by emailing tmrecords@cms-cmno.com.

 Co-contributor, Emily Spain, trainee.