Blog

By Purple Fox Legal

June 14, 2023

Last week on June 9, 2023, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sent out a notice to trademark owners whose email addresses were “recently identified a data security incident that impacted domicile information in certain trademark filings between February 2020 and March 2023.”

The USPTO has vehemently promised that when a trademark application is filed using an attorney, the applicant’s email would remain protected from all publicly accessible records. However, it is now apparent that applicants’ email addresses are, or at least were, publicly accessible through the Trademark Status and Document Review (TSDR) application programming interfaces (APIs) and bulk data sets.

What Should You Do If You Received the USPTO Notice

If you received this notice from the USPTO, contact your trademark attorney (the USPTO failed to inform the attorneys listed on each application and registration). Also be on the lookout for potential trademark scams. 

Watch For Trademark Scams

Given the USPTO’s blunder, trademark scams will likely be on the rise. However, it is important for trademark owners to evaluate each communication thoroughly or send them to a trademark attorney before determining whether a communication is a scam.

Examples of recent trademark scams can be found at www.isthisatrademarkscam.com, operated by Erik M. Pelton & Associates PLLC.