How to Protect your IP from Global Scams

The recent influx of impersonation scams targeting clients’ IP is becoming a global issue. Whilst there have been lots of different scams circulating over the years, these scams are becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot.

What are the scams? 

Most of these scams involve some kind of unsolicited or misleading information, or fake invoices such as official fees or renewal fees. The current scams to look out for involve frauds impersonating a registered trade mark attorney. 

AJ Park Senior Associate Zoe Dewhurst has encountered an evolving and increasingly deceptive version of these scams in New Zealand, where fraudsters target businesses with alarming urgency.  

“The current version of the scam is worse as [the scammers] often state another person has recently approached them to file a trade mark application for the client’s brand. However, they then offer the client ‘first priority’ to file for the trade mark and urge the client to act quickly to secure its rights,” Dewhurst explains. 

What to look out for? 

Red flags  

• You should not be receiving an urgent call to action from your counsel. Any email that asks you to act quickly should be the first red flag. 

• Any communication with counsel demanding for urgent payment is unusual. Your patent attorney is unlikely to ask you for urgent payments over email, if at all. 

• Ambiguity regarding what the email is asking or offering. In a normal situation, your attorney will clearly state the concern, the solution, and will not ask for payment. 

“For those using a trade mark attorney, we don’t see any major change outside of staying diligent. Any suspicious or unusual correspondence should be checked with the client’s usual IP attorney before any money is paid, links are clicked on, or personal information is handed over. Accounts teams should be made aware of what to look out for when processing invoices,” Dewhurst advises. 

If scammed, what can you do? 

Fortunately, there are government initiatives in place providing educational tools and warning of scam notices. These tools outline how to avoid being targeted by a scam, and what to do if you have been scammed. Smart & Biggar Principal Graham Hood has experienced instances in which clients reported receiving scam emails and is quick to offer them advice. 

“If you do happen to send some money to one of these fraudsters, or share your personal information with them, there are things that can be done, steps that can be taken to at least lessen the blow and lessen the damage,” says Hood. 

Those most at risk 

There has been a trend of these types of scams targeting smaller to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rather than larger corporations, which are typically better equipped to handle such threats. These smaller businesses often lack dedicated general counsel or intellectual property (IP) experts, making them more vulnerable to fraudulent fee solicitations. Fraudsters seem to be aware of this gap in resources, and as a result, SMEs are at a higher risk of falling victim to these deceptive schemes. 

“Among our clients that have received such solicitations, [we’ve noticed] the fraudsters tend to target small medium enterprises,” Hood shares. 

Protecting yourself from scams 

If you fall victim to a trade mark scam, the most important thing to do is report it.  

For more information about how to protect yourself from scams in Canada, visit the Government of Canada’s Intellectual Property Office website.