I am writing to tell you how to save money by avoiding patent and trademark scams.
If you are interested in saving money or helping someone else save money.
When you file a patent application or a trademark application, the information in your application will become publicly searchable. This is part of the tradeoff for obtaining intellectual property rights; they have to be publicly searchable so that the public and your competitors can avoid accidentally infringing on your property rights.
Unfortunately, all of that publicly accessible information leads to scam artists and others sending “mock bills” in the hope that you will accidentally send them money (usually over $1,000). These fake invoices will look real because they will reference the name of your application, your name, your address, your title, your file numbers and on and on.
However, if you are using a patent attorney or an Intellectual Property attorney (IP attorney) to obtain your patents or trademarks, then your IP attorney should be listed as your designated contact by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
This designation means that ALL of your bills should come to you through your attorney or an organization that your attorney introduced you to.
Bottom line: if you receive a letter, a call, or an email that is (1) asking for money for your patent or trademark application and (2) not from your IP attorney, then it is either a scam or a sleazy solicitation.
If you have ANY doubt, send a copy to your IP attorney and they will confirm it. BTW, they should do this for free because it only takes a second for us to know.
If you are acting as your own patent attorney, then I suggest you learn to read the fine print before you lose thousands of dollars.
Or just call Childs Patent Law at 832-621-0353. We’ll read the fine print, so that you don’t have to.