Overview
Canada’s trademark agent regulator, the College of Patent Agents & Trademark Agents (CPATA), has reminded Canadian trademark practitioners to share its scam warning with our trademark clients.
These scams generally involve communication by email, text or telephone directly to trademark owners. The scammer poses as an intellectual property professional or a representative of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). The owner, whose identifying information appears accurate, is urged to act quickly, failing which severe legal consequences will follow.
Although we have included scam warnings in our reports to clients for many years, we are taking this further opportunity to amplify CPATA’s warning. The full text of CPATA’s updated caution may be found here: IP Scams Circulating – CPATA Advises Public Caution - CPATA
CPATA suggests that recipients of these communications take steps to confirm the bona fides of the sender. We suggest a far simpler approach: Contact us!
Our guidance remains the same as always: If trademark owners receive invoices or other correspondence from anyone but their trademark counsel, and there is any doubt whatsoever that the correspondence is genuine or a scam, we are happy to review it and provide advice. Better safe than sorry.