USPTO terminates over 5,500 trademark applications filed by low-cost trademark filing firms
21 February 2022
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has terminated over 5,500 trademark applications filed by three low-cost trademark filing companies which are neither law firms nor have lawyers in their staff, and thus cannot operate in the US.
The USPTO issued a Notice of Show Cause Order to ABTACH Ltd., 360 Digital Marketing LLC and Retrocube LLC, all three of which exist under 30 trade names. They operate websites posing as US-based firms that deliver low-cost trademark filing services to clients. These websites were actually operated by a Pakistani firm which is now being investigated in Pakistan for its illegal activities.
The three low-cost trademark filing companies filed single-class trademark applications and then altered the receipts to indicate they paid for multiple class filings. They then charged their customers to pay the amount shown in the fake receipts for the multiple class filings.
The companies also deliberately incorporated mistakes as they prepared the applications. Their clients would then receive Office Actions and the companies will charge them additional fees in order to make all necessary corrections in the trademark applications.
They also forged signatures on trademark applications, misinformed their clients on Office Action deadlines and engaged in false advertising with regard to their low fees, among others.
“There are a number of low-cost trademark filing firms in Pakistan. These are neither law firms nor IP agents. Rather, most of them are either paralegals or accountants who try to make a few extra bucks through filing trademark applications,” said Sarmad Hasan Manto, managing partner at Audiri Vox in Karachi.
“As these low-cost trademark and patent filing firms do not have the required knowledge and expertise, a lot of mistakes are conducted while filing the applications which result in office actions. Again, due to lack of knowledge and experience, the office actions are not properly responded which results in rejections. This ultimately costs more to the client and many a times results in loss of their valuable rights. Accordingly, rights holders should be vigilant while appointing a firm to file / prosecute their IP rights and should not base the decision merely on the basis of cost effectiveness,” added Manto.
The clients for whom ABTACH Ltd., 360 Digital Marketing LLC and Retrocube LLC filed trademark applications must now refile their respective applications before the USPTO.
Espie Angelica A. de Leon
