CALGARY – Businesses who own their company name, brand or trademark are becoming prime targets for a very deceiving scam.
Lawyer Lisa Statt Foy has heard from a lot of clients receiving phoney invoices to renew company trademarks or patents.
The letters often look legitimate and threaten trademark cancellation if the bill isn’t paid.
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The bills come from Canada, the United States and Europe but are often just advertising offers to list your business name in a trademark directory.
“They’ve become increasingly sophisticated. In some cases you really have to look at them,” says Statt.
“The best case that we advise our clients to do is not to remit any payment without checking with a trademark agent of the relevant office if they’re really concerned that it might be a legitimate payment request.
Legitimate brand name and trademark registration offices will only send notices to renew and never a bill.
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