Trademark Scams: How to Spot Fake USPTO Notices

Once you file a trademark application, you may start getting letters, emails, calls and texts that look official but do not come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Some sell services you do not need; some are fraud. This guide is built on the USPTO's own warning pages.

The most useful test comes straight from the USPTO. Official communications about your application or registration "are always uploaded to TSDR under the 'documents' tab. If it's not in TSDR, it's not an official communication." TSDR (Trademark Status and Document Retrieval, at tsdr.uspto.gov) is the USPTO's online record for every trademark application and registration. Look up your serial or registration number there before you pay anyone or reply to anything.

Why trademark owners get these notices

"Trademark statutes and rules require application and registration records to be publicly viewable," the USPTO explains, and the required information includes the owner's name, addresses and email addresses. The USPTO says scammers "exploit publicly available information," and that misleading notices can arrive "before you apply to register your trademark, after you file, or even after your trademark has registered," including "around the time your maintenance filings are due."

You can limit what becomes public (USPTO personal information FAQ):

• Give a mailing address that differs from your domicile address (your permanent legal residence, or a company's principal place of business). "The mailing address will be viewable in the public record while the domicile address will not." Putting the same address in both fields makes it public.
• Every email address you give becomes public, so consider an address "specifically for use with your application or registration."
• Telephone numbers are not required.

What the solicitations look like

The USPTO describes these patterns on its Recognizing common scams page and keeps a list of example solicitations. As of its last update on January 22, 2026, the list has 101 entries: 71 listed under the United States and 30 under other countries. The USPTO calls these examples "our customers have contacted us about," so a sender missing from the list is not proof of legitimacy.

Look-alike names and official-looking mail. "Any variation is not part of the USPTO, such as 'Patent and Trademark Bureau' or 'Trademark Renewal Service.'" These businesses may put "United States," "Trademark," "Office," or "Agency" in their names, and some letters carry "the USPTO seal on gold foil." Notices often contain "fine print explaining the company isn't a federal agency." The two newest entries on the list, dated January 22, 2026, use real agency names: "Department of Commerce - Bureau of Industry and Security" and "US Patent and Trademark Office." A real agency name on a letter proves nothing. TSDR does.

Renewal and "maintenance" notices. The USPTO warns of letters that "falsely state they must act urgently to maintain their registrations," often "sent well before any real deadline," with fees "usually significantly higher than actual USPTO fees." In 2021 a federal court sentenced the operator of two renewal schemes called "Patent and Trademark Office" and "Patent and Trademark Bureau" to more than four years in federal prison and ordered over $4.5 million in restitution. Per the USPTO's case summary, owners were told their registrations would expire earlier than they actually would, and the operator "Did not, and legally could not, renew the registrations."

Private registers, publications and monitoring offers. Many list entries are styled this way, such as "TM-DB Register of Protected Trademarks," "WTP Trademark Publication" and "Trademark Safeguard - Trademark Monitoring Service." None of the listed examples "are official U.S. government or international governmental notices or offers." The USPTO's advice: "Don't be fooled by an offer for services that aren't required or typically needed."

International registration offers. Of the 30 foreign entries on the list, 10 are in the Czech Republic and 10 in Slovakia, with names such as "IPTA Registration of the International Trademark." For international registrations, the list page notes that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) "warns about requests for payment of fees."

Look-alike websites. "Scammers copy the USPTO.gov or my.USPTO.gov websites." Those two are the official domains. The list includes addresses such as "Notices-USPTO.us" and "FeesDue-USPTO.us," both listed in Kosice, Slovakia.

Fake Office Actions and impostor emails. An Office Action is the official letter in which a USPTO examining attorney lists problems with an application (our explainer). Scammers send "fake office actions, compliance notices, and courtesy reminders that usually demand trademark owners respond within 24 to 72 hours." Impostor emails may quote your serial number or forward a fake email chain from a supposed examining attorney. Some scammers even sign owners up for real USPTO alert emails, then call and cite the alert to sound credible.

Spoofed calls and texts. Scammers fake caller ID. In one pattern, callers posing as the Trademark Assistance Center tell owners of recently abandoned applications to pay "a preferred service or a partner organization" to revive them. "The USPTO also doesn't have preferred services or partner organizations," and its employees "will NEVER ask you for your personal or payment information over the phone, in an email, or text." The list includes an entry titled "US Trademark Protector - Text Message."

State "authentication" notices. "If you receive a notice about endorsing, attesting, or authenticating your trademark in each U.S. state, do not pay anything, even if the notice looks authentic and has the Commissioner for Trademarks signature or letterhead."

Promises to speed things up. The USPTO warns of "fake promises to accelerate the registration of your trademark." A real route exists but is narrow: a Petition to Make Special (TMEP 1710), filed on the USPTO's Petition to Director form by selecting "Advance initial examination out of its regular order." It is "granted only when very special circumstances exist, such as a demonstrable possibility of the loss of substantial rights," shown with evidence such as court pleadings or a cease-and-desist letter. An upcoming advertising campaign does not qualify. Treat any promise of a "guaranteed" fast registration as a warning sign.

How real USPTO correspondence works

• It is in TSDR. Office Actions and "letters with requests for payment or other information" all appear in the Documents tab.
• Email comes from @uspto.gov. "All official USPTO email correspondence is only from the domain '@uspto.gov.'" Hover over the sender's address to see if a different address is hiding behind it.
• Fees go to the USPTO, through its own system. Legitimate fees are on the USPTO fee schedule. The USPTO says to "only pay for trademark fees via our electronic filing system," and it does not "require payment via wire transfer, gift cards, cash, check, or money order to third-party addresses."
• No partners or referrals. "We DO NOT recommend specific companies or attorneys."
• A USPTO examiner handles your file. An examining attorney handles your application; a post-registration examiner handles maintenance filings. If TSDR shows a recent Office Action, the USPTO says to call the number in its signature block to confirm an email is genuine.
• Maintenance reminders are real, and specific. The USPTO emails courtesy reminders on the first day of each maintenance filing window, listing the filing due, its deadline, the grace-period deadline and the fee per class. It is not obligated to send them, and missing one does not excuse a late filing.

Real deadlines to check a notice against

Sources: 37 CFR 2.62, 37 CFR 2.160, 37 CFR 2.182, and the USPTO's Keeping your registration alive page.

A few notices carry shorter deadlines (a notice of incomplete response can give 30 days), which is why the USPTO says to "Read your office action carefully to determine the specific deadline for the response." The real deadline is printed on the real document in TSDR. For maintenance, the Maintenance button in TSDR shows your "Next maintenance filing required." If a letter and TSDR disagree, believe TSDR. More detail: Section 8 and 9 deadlines.

Real fees to compare against

USPTO fees per class, filed electronically (37 CFR 2.6):

The old TEAS Plus ($250) and TEAS Standard ($350) application fees were discontinued on January 18, 2025, replaced by the single base fee plus surcharges (how the surcharges work). A demand for an amount you cannot find on the fee schedule, or for payment to anyone other than the USPTO, is not a USPTO fee. The schedule lists no fee for monitoring.

If you got one, or already paid

From the USPTO's What to do if you've been scammed page and related guidance:

1. Do not pay or share information. On a suspicious call, the USPTO's advice is "Hang up!"
2. Check TSDR, then call the Trademark Assistance Center (TAC): toll free 1-800-786-9199 (press 1), local 571-272-9250 (press 0), international 1-571-272-9250 (press 0), Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET; email TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov. TAC can help you judge whether correspondence or a call is genuine (give it the number that called you), but it cannot give legal advice.
3. Report it to TMScams@uspto.gov. For an email, "include the original email as an attachment to your message."
4. If you paid, contact your bank or credit card company "to determine if you can dispute the charges."
5. File outside complaints. The USPTO lists the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission (spoofed calls), your state consumer protection authorities and Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (scams by mail).
6. Report people. Advice from a non-attorney goes to your state bar association. An attorney you think was involved goes to the USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline at OED@uspto.gov.
7. Watch for email changes you did not make. "If you receive an alert message from TEAS@uspto.gov and don't recognize the new email address listed in the message, reply to the TEAS mailbox and explain that you didn't authorize this change."
8. Get your own advice. The USPTO recommends a "private U.S.-licensed attorney" to evaluate your application or registration.

Keep copies of the solicitation, emails, receipts and screenshots.

What the USPTO does about fraud

The USPTO says it does not "have the legal authority to sue or prosecute those who attempt to defraud our customers," so it works with the Commerce Department's Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Justice, the FTC and the Postal Inspection Service. It also polices its own register. In an August 8, 2025 news release, the USPTO said it "issued sanctions against a foreign filing firm and terminated over 52,000 applications and registrations connected to the firm," which had "Submitted fake specimens of use" and "Misused USPTO.gov accounts." To see whether your own file was affected by "an attorney or entity that has received an administrative order," use the USPTO's Trademark Decisions and Proceedings search tool.

Make it a habit

Check TSDR whenever something unexpected arrives, and check your status there regularly (what TSDR statuses mean). GleanMark watches your marks and alerts you to new filings and status changes, usually by the next business day for status changes and Office Actions. Either way, TSDR is the record that counts: if a letter and TSDR disagree, believe TSDR and call TAC before you pay anyone.