Applicants for foreign trademarks and U.S. trademarks are receiving fraudulent notices about their marks and need to check with their attorney before responding to any such notice.
The first type of notice is a bogus invoice. The invoices can come from organizations that use initials such as OHMI, which are trying to confuse trademark owners and make them think the sender is OHIM. The OHIM (the genuine abbreviation for the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) registers trademarks for the European Common Market – there is no OHMI.
The second type is a warning that third parties are registering domain names containing the addressee’s trademark. This type of fraud notice typically deals with Chinese domain names.
Do not respond to these fraudulent invoices and notices. If you are using an attorney to register your marks, which is highly recommended, any legitimate invoices will come through the attorney. If there is any doubt about the legitimacy of an invoice or notice notice, consult with an attorney before acting on it.
