Rip-offs. They are out there everywhere. There are many different forms of scams to attempt to take advantage of people. Here’s one that I received about my trademark.

In the fine print the fee is $1,650 to “renew” my Pink Biker Chic trademark. Pretty hefty fee. Interestingly enough, I just renewed my trademark with my attorney, and it cost me significantly less than that. It’s only a $225 fee to renew through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plus whatever fee an attorney charges to do the work.

The document says, “Pending Trademark Cancellation by USPTO” and indicates my trademark is about to expire on July 17, 2019. It asks me to sign and return the form. It’s not asking for any payment. They probably want to see who will by off on this scam. If you send the form back, they know they have someone who doesn’t look very closely at things and they can bilk you out of your hard earned money.

Verify the Facts is a Think Like A Negotiator strategy. To avoid getting ripped off, you need to verify the facts in order to ascertain whether something is or is not legitimate.

The company name and address are:
Patent and Trademark Office
2200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
4th Floor East
Washington DC 20037

At first glance it looks legitimate. Patent and Trademark Office is close to the USPTO name without the US. The address is in Washington DC on Pennsylvania Ave. Must be legit that’s close to the White House address which is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

That’s what they want you to think and they put in just enough info to make it seem real and legit. However, at closer look when you google the address, it comes up as an office space with Regus,a co-working and office space rental company. So, they’ve rented the address to use as a business address.

If that’s not enough, the website doesn’t come up and it’s a dot us not a dot gov. All Government agencies have a dot gov address. https://www.uspto.gov/ If you google trademark scam, you will see some info about this one or if you google patent and trademark office scam.

The bottom line here is you need to verify the facts on whether something is or is not legitimate. There are many scammers masquerading as something that looks almost real but really is not. Take the time to verify the facts in order to save yourself from getting ripped off.