EUIPO and UKIPO renew warnings around misleading or fake invoices
7 August 2024
The UKIPO has issued a fresh warning to rights owners following a recent jump in the number of unsolicited and misleading payment requests. This follows shortly after the EUIPO hosted its 9th Anti-Scam Network meeting in May of this year.
The use of misleading invoices has become an increasingly popular in recent years, with criminals targeting rights owners with official looking demands for payments. All rights owners may be targeted, but the UKIPO suggests that trade mark customers are the most common targets. The invoices range from the dubious, such as charging an inflated price for a service that may be available cheaper or free directly from the IPO, to completely fraudulent, where criminals will send a fake payment request including IPO branding, logos and even fake signatures from IPO employees.
The UKIPO suggest you should never pay any invoices sent by unsolicited organisations, and should instead report them to the UKIPO. The EUIPO have stated that they will never send any invoices by mail or email, and that all payments must be made through their payment portal. To improve the security of communications further, they also recommend using their electronic filing form for applications for registration of an EU Trade Mark (EUTM) or Community Design.
As with most scams, fake communications will often attempt to create a sense of urgency, usually by threatening the loss of rights unless payment is made within a short timeframe. Be cautious of any communication that tries to rush you into making a decision and, if in doubt, verify the communication through a known legitimate source, such as your Zacco representative, or through the official contact details for the UKIPO or EUIPO that can be found through their websites.
If Zacco is registered as your agent on record, and is responsible for managing your IP rights, then we would handle any relevant communication, payments and administration. We would therefore suggest you check with your representative at Zacco before making any payments.
For more information, and any updates, check the UKIPO guidance here, or the EUIPO guidance here.
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