If you’ve recently applied to the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for a trade mark, be on high alert and beware of scam trade mark invoices: scammers are increasingly targeting applicants with misleading invoices. Following a 63% surge in reports of fraudulent payment requests in 2024, compared to reports in 2023, the IPO have issued a warning to applicants to be vigilant and to make sure they know how to spot these kind of invoices.
The invoices often appear legitimate and may reference your actual trade mark application. However, they come from organisations not affiliated with the IPO or any official body. Unfortunately, following submission of the application, the application gets published in the Trade Marks Journal; open to the public, these organisations browse and find an unsuspecting target to scam.
What do these invoices look like?
Misleading invoices may:
- Request payment for unnecessary or non-existent services, such as “protection” or “publication” of your application.
- Charge inflated fees for services that are free or low-cost via the IPO.
- Use misleading names to sound legitimate, such as “Worldwide Trademarks”, “World Intellectual Property Office for Trademarks (WIPOT)”, “INT-Trademarks”. The IPO has a list of legitimate organisations to check any invoice received against. If the organisation is not on the list, it is likely a scam invoice.
What should you do if you receive an invoice?
- Do not pay any invoice unless you are certain of its legitimacy. All official correspondence regarding your application will be sent to you directly, or to your legal representative if you have appointed one to handle the application for you. If you are in any doubt as to the legitimacy of the organisation that is contacting you, you should send an email to your legal representative to check the invoice.
- If you do not have legal representation, you can contact the IPO directly and report suspicious invoices at misleadinginvoices@ipo.gov.uk.
- Notify Action Fraud and your local Trading Standards office if you believe you’ve been targeted.
Once payment is made, recovery is unlikely, especially as many of these scams operate internationally. For more information and examples of misleading invoices, visit the IPO’s official guidance here – Avoiding misleading payment requests
If you are considering registering a trade mark, contact our Commercial Team who will be happy to discuss the application process and how Moore Barlow can help protect you and your brand.
