Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for IP owners to receive phony invoices from third-party organizations. These organizations often monitor notices of acceptance of patents and trademarks in various countries and transmit official-looking, unsolicited bills to IP owners on the hope and expectation that some percentage will get processed for payment without proper verification. In an effort to combat this practice, a foreign law firm used by Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry LLP has prepared a list of companies known or expected to send out these sham bills. Please contact us if you receive an invoice from a third-party organization and are questioning its legitimacy. According to the list received from our foreign associate firm, the suspect companies might include:
* American Trademark Agency (USA)
* Central Data Register of International Patents (Germany)
* Central Patent & Trademark Database (CPTD)(Hong Kong)
* Commercial Centre for Industry and Trade (Switzerland)
* Company of Economic Publications Ltd (Austria)
* Company for Publications and Information Anstalt (CPI)(Liechtenstein)
* Edition The Marks KFT (Hungary)
* European Institute for Economy and Commerce (EIEC)(Belgium)
* Federated Institute for Patent & Trademark Registry (FIPTR)(US)
* Globus Edition SL (Spain)
* INFOCOM (Switzerland)
* Institut of Commerce for Industry, Trade, Commerce (Switzerland)
* International Bureau for Intellectual Property (IBIP)(USA)
* International Data Medium Anstalt (IDM) (Liechtenstein)
* International Organization for Intellectual Property (Switzerland)
* International Organization for Patent & Trademark Service (USA)
* IPTR International Patent and Trademark Register (Germany)
* IT&T AG (Switzerland)
* Register of International Patents – Office Data Management (Italy)
* Register of International Patent Bulletin (Germany)
* Société pour Publications et Information (SARL)(Austria)
* TM-Collection Kft (Hungary)
* Trademark Renewal Service (TRS)(USA)
* United States Trademark Protection Agency (USA)
* ZDR – Datenregister GmbH (Germany)