IP Owners Beware! Australian Renewal Scam Alert

We have recently become aware of a 'renewal scam' being operated by a company calling itself Patent & Trademark Organisation which is apparently operating an office in Melbourne, Australia, although it seems in fact to be a limited liability company (LLC) registered in the US.

So far, we have only seen evidence of the scam being applied to trade mark renewals, but the company name suggests that it may aspire to 'assist' applicants with obtaining and/or maintaining other registered rights.

The scam appears to work as follows:

1. the company identifies trade marks on the Australian Register that are coming due for renewal;
2. it then sends a letter to the trade mark owner advising that the trade mark is about to expire, and offering to attend to renewal for a fee of A$1350.00 for one class, and a further A$650.00 for each additional class;
3. if the trade mark owner signs and returns the letter, the company pays the renewal fees and sends out an invoice.

The Official Fee payable to the Trade Marks Office for renewal of a registration is A$300.00 per class.  This means that the Patent & Trademark Organisation is pocketing A$1050.00 for the first class, and A$350.00 for each additional class.  These charges are nearly twice those of many full-service patent and trade marks attorney firms, which also maintain records of the registration details, and act as the address for legal service on behalf of the trade mark owner throughout the ten-year period between renewals.  Specialist renewal service providers, which do not provide any additional attorney services, are generally even cheaper.

This is, therefore, an out-and-out scam, designed to dupe trade mark owners into paying excessive service fees in exchange for little, or no, additional service.  But is it actually illegal?

IMMORAL?  MAYBE.  ILLEGAL?  NO.

We understand that the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) is aware of this operation, however (aside from being a nuisance and trading without a registered business name) the Patent & Trademark Organisation does not appear to be doing anything illegal.

We have captured an example of one of their letters, which you can download here.  The small print clearly indicates (if you read it carefully) that this is a reminder and an offer to provide a 'service', and not an invoice requiring payment.  The organisation does not purport to have any official status, and the letter expressly mentions that the recipient is also free to contact its representative to assist with renewal.  Australian telephone and fax contact numbers are provided, as well as an email address.

BE VIGILENT

We encourage all of our readers to remain on the lookout for these types of operations, and to spread the word in order to raise awareness.  As we have written previously (here, here and here), scams of this type are becoming increasingly prevalent on a global basis and, since they are often perfectly legal, the only way to discourage their further spread is to starve them of funds. 

There is no shortage of organisations offering legitimate monitoring and renewal services, with a range of different pricing structures commensurate with the level of service provided.  There is no justification for any IP owner to pay top dollar for bargain basement service!

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Before You Go…

Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful.  Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.

But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour.  If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research.  My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection.  But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me.  If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.

The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months.  No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar.  You might even find it to be fun!

There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net.  In particular, you can read:

1. a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
2. instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.

Thank you for considering this request!

Mark Summerfield

Tags: Scams