Trademark fraud is not an abstract problem. In fiscal year 2025 alone, the United States Patent and Trademark Office removed approximately 62,000 fraudulent applications and registrations from the federal trademark register. That number represents tens of thousands of fake filings that cluttered the register, blocked legitimate businesses, and undermined the integrity of the entire trademark system.

"All told we've been able to eliminate about 62,000 applications and registrations from the register this year through these various mechanisms," said Amy Cotton, Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Examination Policy, during the October 2025 USPTO Hour webinar.

For brand owners, these numbers are both reassuring and alarming. Reassuring because the USPTO is actively fighting fraud at an unprecedented scale. Alarming because the sheer volume reveals just how pervasive the problem has become.

The Scale of Trademark Fraud

Trademark fraud has grown from a nuisance into a systemic threat. The problem accelerated after 2019, when increasing numbers of foreign applicants began filing fraudulent applications to secure U.S. trademark rights they never intended to use in commerce. These fraudulent registrations do real damage: they block legitimate businesses from registering their own marks, they pollute search results during clearance, and they erode trust in the federal register itself.

The USPTO tracks fraud reports through its dedicated mailbox, TMScams@uspto.gov, and the agency has seen an enormous increase in victim reporting over the past several years. Whether this growth reflects an actual increase in fraudulent activity, better outreach to victims, or both, the trajectory is clear: trademark fraud is a problem that demands aggressive enforcement.

Types of Trademark Fraud the USPTO Is Fighting

The USPTO's fraud enforcement spans several distinct categories, each representing a different method bad actors use to exploit the trademark system.

Administrative Sanctions: The Primary Enforcement Tool

The sanctions program is the USPTO's most powerful fraud-fighting mechanism. In FY2025, it accounted for roughly 52,000 of the 62,000 removals.

The process works like this: the USPTO identifies scam cases through filing data analysis, filing behavior patterns, account data, credit card information, and attorney appearance records. Once suspicious activity is confirmed, the agency issues show cause orders to the respondents and notifies affected applicants. Sanctions can include terminating invalid applications and registrations, closing or suspending USPTO.gov accounts, and preventing attorneys or applicants from appearing before the USPTO.

A critical development in FY2025 was the expansion of the sanctions program to cover registrations, not just applications. Previously, the USPTO could only terminate pending applications involved in fraud. Now, registrations obtained through fraudulent means can also be canceled.

The largest single enforcement action came in August 2025, when the USPTO terminated over 52,000 applications and registrations tied to a network of Shenzhen-based entities, including Shenzhen Seller Growth Network Technology Co. and related companies. The respondents had engaged in unauthorized practice of law, attorney signature forgery, false documentation, and identity shell games -- filing under many slightly different owner names and emails to make their portfolios appear unrelated.

Attorney Credential Hijacking

One of the more insidious forms of trademark fraud involves the theft of attorney credentials. In FY2025, the USPTO addressed approximately 7,200 cases involving credential hijacking.

The scheme works as follows: bad actors scrape attorney credentials -- names, bar numbers, contact information -- from publicly accessible bar association websites. They then use these stolen credentials to file unauthorized trademark applications at the USPTO. The victimized attorneys often discover the fraud only when confused applicants begin calling them about applications they never filed.

When an attorney reports unauthorized use of their credentials, the USPTO collects a declaration confirming the attorney did not file the applications in question. The fraudulent filings are then "misassigned," meaning their filing dates and serial numbers are denied, effectively removing them from the system.

Specimen Farms and Director-Initiated Reexamination

The Trademark Modernization Act gave the USPTO a powerful new tool: Director-initiated reexamination proceedings. The agency has used this authority to target "specimen farms" -- fraudulent e-commerce websites created solely to generate fake evidence of trademark use in commerce.

These specimen farm websites are typically easy to spot. As Amy Cotton described them during the October 2025 USPTO Hour webinar, they are "e-commerce websites that just appear to be disparate goods with weird descriptions and you can't really buy anything on it." The trademark registrations obtained through these fake specimens are then sold on auction sites or the secondary market, or used to gain access to brand registries such as Amazon Brand Registry.

Through Director-initiated proceedings, the USPTO examines whether these registrations reflect genuine commercial use. If the registrant defaults or provides unpersuasive evidence, the registrations are canceled for non-use.

Directed Audits: A New Capability

Prior to FY2025, the USPTO could only conduct random audits of trademark maintenance filings. These audits were computer-assigned and random in nature, providing no ability to target specific cases based on suspicious indicators.

That changed in FY2025 with the introduction of directed audits. The USPTO can now direct audits at specific cases that meet criteria suggesting fraud involvement. As Cotton explained, "Now we have the ability to directed audits. We can direct audit on certain cases that meet criteria where we think that there's a scam involved."

While results from this new program are still being compiled, it represents a significant expansion of the USPTO's ability to proactively investigate suspicious filings rather than relying solely on reactive enforcement.

How the USPTO Detects Fraud

The USPTO's fraud detection has evolved from manual review into an increasingly sophisticated operation that combines data analytics, account monitoring, and -- soon -- artificial intelligence.

Account Monitoring System

The USPTO has developed a monitoring tool that identifies anomalies in filing behavior within USPTO.gov accounts. If an account suddenly begins submitting bulk applications in a short time frame, the system flags the activity and alerts the fraud team. The team can then suspend the account and investigate the filings.

"If all of a sudden the account is just sending in bulk tons of applications in a short amount of time, this tool will identify that, ping us, we can hit 'suspend' and then take a look at what that account is doing," Cotton said during the webinar.

If the filings are determined to be problematic, they are removed from the examination queue and routed to the Register Protection Office for further investigation.

Enhanced Specimen Standards

The December 2025 update to the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) strengthened specimen requirements significantly. Specimens must now show marks "as actually encountered by consumers in commerce." The TMEP explicitly rejects digitally superimposed, staged, or artificially created displays. For digital services, specimens must include functional access points -- download buttons, sign-up forms, or purchase buttons -- displayed near the trademark.

Draft packaging, mockups, and AI-generated images face rejection unless supported by genuine evidence of commercial use. Examining attorneys are also trained to flag patterns suggesting fraud, including identical specimens appearing across unrelated filings, mass submission patterns, and inconsistent domicile information.

AI Risk Predictor (Coming FY2026)

The next frontier in fraud detection is an AI-based risk prediction system. The USPTO is developing a tool that would analyze applications, filing behaviors, and account patterns to assign a fraud risk percentage to each application. High-risk applications could then be routed to the Register Protection Office or placed in a slower examination track for closer scrutiny.

Cotton characterized this initiative as still in the "dream stage" -- the agency is still determining which risk predictors to use and how to implement the system -- but it represents a significant step toward automated fraud detection at scale. For a broader look at how artificial intelligence is reshaping trademark examination beyond fraud detection, see our article on How AI Is Changing Trademark Examination at the USPTO.

Red Flags: How to Spot Trademark Fraud

Whether you are a trademark attorney or a business owner, knowing the warning signs of fraudulent filings can help you identify problems early:

Copied specimens across unrelated filings. The same product images appearing in applications for completely different goods is a strong indicator of specimen fabrication.
Suspicious addresses. Virtual offices, freight forwarders, and addresses consisting of long character strings often signal shell applicants.
Mismatched counsel information. U.S. counsel listed with foreign email domains suggests credential misuse.
Burst filings. Dozens of near-identical applications filed simultaneously from the same account warrant suspicion.
Specimen farm websites. E-commerce sites with disparate, unrelated goods, generic descriptions, and no functional purchasing capability.

How to Protect Yourself

Report Suspected Fraud

The USPTO encourages anyone who encounters suspected trademark fraud to report it to TMScams@uspto.gov. This dedicated mailbox allows victims to describe their experience and receive assistance from the USPTO's fraud team. Victim reporting has been instrumental in helping the agency identify and investigate fraud networks.

Verify Your Attorney

Since August 2019, foreign-domiciled trademark applicants have been required to use a qualified U.S.-licensed attorney (37 C.F.R. Section 2.11). If you receive unsolicited contact from someone claiming to be a trademark attorney, verify their credentials through your state bar association before sharing any information or agreeing to representation.

Monitor Your Registrations

Fraudulent filings can directly impact your trademark rights. A fraudulent registration for a similar mark can trigger a Section 2(d) "likelihood of confusion" refusal against your legitimate application, even when the blocking registration was fabricated and the mark was never used in U.S. commerce.

Regular monitoring of the trademark register helps you identify potential conflicts early, whether they originate from legitimate competitors or fraudulent filings. Tools like GleanMark allow you to set up automated monitoring that alerts you when similar marks appear on the register, so you can take action before a fraudulent filing causes real damage to your brand.

Secure Your USPTO Account

Identity verification has been mandatory for all USPTO account holders since August 2022. The USPTO uses the Okta platform for account protection and requires multi-factor authentication. As of November 2025, email-based and SMS-based verification have been phased out entirely -- only authenticator apps such as Okta Verify are accepted.

If you are an attorney, be aware that your credentials are a target. Monitor for any unauthorized applications filed in your name, and report suspicious activity immediately to the USPTO.

What Happens If You Are a Victim

If you discover that your attorney credentials have been hijacked or that fraudulent filings are affecting your trademark rights, there are several avenues for response:

Report to TMScams@uspto.gov with a detailed description of the fraud.
File a declaration confirming that unauthorized applications were filed without your knowledge or consent.
Request suspension of your affected applications while the USPTO investigates.
File a Letter of Protest ($150 fee) presenting evidence of fraud to the examiner handling a conflicting application.
Petition for expungement or reexamination under the Trademark Modernization Act if a fraudulent registration is blocking your rights.
Initiate TTAB cancellation proceedings against bad faith registrations.

What Is Coming Next

The USPTO has signaled that fraud enforcement will only intensify in FY2026 and beyond. Key initiatives on the horizon include:

External partnerships. The USPTO is working with the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, AARP, Social Security Administration, and Federal Communications Commission to amplify fraud warnings through their subscriber channels. The goal is to reach prospective victims who may not follow USPTO communications directly.
Role-based access controls. The Trademark Center will eventually limit docket access based on user roles. Attorneys will see only files where they or their firm are the attorney of record. Owners will see only their own files. This architectural change is designed to eliminate application and registration hijacking at the platform level.
Case management database. The fraud team is building a centralized database for managing evidence, linking actors across cases, and sharing intelligence with other USPTO units investigating related fraud (such as design patent fraud).
IT automation. The sanctions process currently runs on spreadsheets and manual workflows. The USPTO is building automated systems to process sanctions faster and at greater scale.
AI-powered risk prediction. As described above, the AI risk predictor represents the most ambitious effort to identify fraud before it enters the examination queue.

Conclusion

The USPTO's FY2025 enforcement results -- 62,000 fraudulent filings removed, 52,000 through sanctions, 7,200 through credential hijacking remediation, and additional removals through reexamination and directed audits -- demonstrate that the agency is treating trademark fraud as a first-order priority.

But enforcement alone cannot solve the problem. Brand owners and trademark professionals must remain vigilant. Report suspected fraud. Verify attorney credentials. Secure your USPTO accounts. And monitor the register for filings that could affect your rights.

The trademark register is only as reliable as the filings it contains. By combining aggressive enforcement with proactive monitoring, the USPTO and the trademark community can work together to protect the integrity of the system that every brand depends on. For a complete overview of trademark fundamentals -- including how to search, file, and maintain your registration -- see our Trademark Basics guide.

GleanMark monitors the entire USPTO trademark register, tracking new filings, status changes, and potential conflicts across 13.9 million records. Start monitoring your brand today.

How the USPTO Fights Trademark Fraud (And How to Protect Yourself)