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Ongoing Reminder to Beware of Fraudulent Invoices Related to IP

As part of Fraud Prevention Month, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) has published a warning reminding the public to be vigilant regarding scam notices related to patents and trademarks.  These scam notices are designed to closely resemble official CIPO notices and are being sent to owners of Canadian IP rights.

The CIPO makes some common observations about these scam notices:

  • They often say that your patent or trademark protection is about to expire and ask you to renew the registration or pay fees.
  • They often incorporate information about your patent or trademark protection, e.g. applicant and application information, from public records available in the CIPO databases.
  • They can include cautionary language, e.g. “patent cancellation notice” or “important notification regarding your federal trademark”.

The CIPO advises that legitimate notices about Canadian patents or trademarks will only be mailed from 50 Victoria St., Gatineau, QC, K1A 0C9 or be electronically transmitted from an email address with the “@canada.ca” domain name.  CIPO’s notice includes some examples of fraudulent solicitations.

If you suspect that you may have received a scam notice, you can contact us to verify the authenticity of the document you have received.

You can also report the scam notice to CIPO at ic.contact-contact.ic@canada.ca or report fraud to the Competition Bureau.

NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
Information made available on this website in any form is for information purposes only. It is not, and should not be taken as legal advice. You should not rely on, or take or fail to take any action, based upon this information. Never disregard professional legal advice or delay in seeking legal advice because of something you have read on this website. Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP professionals will be pleased to discuss resolutions to specific legal concerns you may have.

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