The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), after receiving numerous inquiries and complaints, has posted a warning directly on its Trademark homepage to highlight the problem of non-USPTO solicitations that resemble official USPTO communications.

According to the Office, private companies not associated with the USPTO will often use trademark application and registration information obtained from the USPTO’s official databases to send trademark-related solicitations by mail or e-mail.  The warning states that the solicitations often mimic official government documents and can include offers: (1) for legal services; (2) for trademark monitoring services; (3) to record trademarks with U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and (4) to “register” trademarks in the company’s own private registry.

The Office asks its customers to read trademark-related communications carefully before making a decision about whether to respond, and reminds them that “all official correspondence will be from the ‘United States Patent and Trademark Office’ in Alexandria, VA, and if by e-mail, specifically from the domain ‘@uspto.gov.'”