I hope everyone is okay, and not struggling too much with the sudden heat we’ve been having!
Today I wanted to post a quick warning to people who are registering, or are thinking about registering, a trademark. There are many scams attempted around this process and, very recently, one of my 60 Day Blueprint students received what I call “a scamming attempt”:
Basically, here’s what happened – one week after my client submitted a trademark registration application, he received this letter that states that he has to pay 1370 EUR for his application to go through – to a bank account in Poland.
The letter was well formatted, coming from TPP – Trademark & Patent Publications.
If you check the small print and their website, basically they are doing nothing illegal – you pay that fee of 1370 EUR for your trademark to be included in their database. So technically it’s all within the law.
My guess is that they look out for new trademark applications/registrations and send out such letters in the hope of getting paid. And I’m 100% sure that a small percentage of people who receive such a letter will fall for this scam and indeed send 1370 EUR in the mistaken believe that this is directly related to their application with the IPO.
And that’s understandable, – after all the timing of this letter (just a few days after submitting your application) as well as how it looks (formatting and presentation) can easily make you believe that this “invoice” is related to your trademark application and you have to pay it.
Just don’t.
Don’t EVER pay any such mysterious invoice that you receive in the post from God knows who!
When you apply for a trademark online, via the official website, you pay your fee of £170 (first class, each additional class – £50) with a debit/credit card and nothing else needs to be paid for!
https://www.gov.uk/register-a-trademark
You just fill out the application, pay and wait for an official reply from IPO (Intellectual Property Office) with the outcome of your application.
I hope this warning helps!
Enjoy the week ahead!
Andrew
Thanks for sharing this! Just received the exact same letter, same amount requested… Luckily I don’t part with my cash that easily but thought I’d google it just incase! I hope more people see your post and don’t fall into the trap!!
That’s great to hear Stephanie! 🙂
Andrew