ARTICLE
28 January 2025

Be Wary: Sophisticated Scam Emails Impersonating IP Attorneys

KG
K&L Gates LLP

Contributor

At K&L Gates, we foster an inclusive and collaborative environment across our fully integrated global platform that enables us to diligently combine the knowledge and expertise of our lawyers and policy professionals to create teams that provide exceptional client solutions. With offices spanning across five continents, we represent leading global corporations in every major industry, capital markets participants, and ambitious middle-market and emerging growth companies. Our lawyers also serve public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations, and individuals. We are leaders in legal issues related to industries critical to the economies of both the developed and developing worlds—including technology, manufacturing, financial services, health care, energy, and more.
Business owners should be aware of a new email scam circulating impersonating an intellectual property (IP) representative, containing false information, and offering trademark assistance.
Australia Intellectual Property

Business owners should be aware of a new email scam circulating impersonating an intellectual property (IP) representative, containing false information, and offering trademark assistance. This nefarious email scam is sent by an operator impersonating a known Australia registered patent and/or trade mark attorney to garner legitimacy. IP Australia has provided an example of the scam and both IP Australia and the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys (IPTA) continue to publish alerts regarding this issue.

Thousands of Australians fall victim to email scams each year. In April 2024, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported a 64.8% increase in email scams1 between 2022-2023. IP owners are not immune, often receiving misleading renewal notices sometimes causing payment of unnecessary fees to scammers that do not result in renewal of a trademark.

In an already email heavy environment, it is prudent to exercise a healthy level of caution about emails and correspondence sent from an unknown or new external email address. Be aware of these characteristics often associated with fraudulent emails:

  • A sense of urgency that require immediate action on behalf of the recipient;
  • Typographical errors and incorrect grammar; and/or
  • The sender's email address may be like a legitimate email address but with a letter missing or added.

Where K&L Gates is engaged to manage IP rights, official correspondence will usually be sent directly to our offices. Any correspondence that claims to be associated with a government department such as IP Australia or a foreign trade mark registry should be considered carefully. Business owners should also train staff to recognise false invoices and renewal notices.

As we have previously reported here, encouragingly some jurisdictions are prosecuting these sophisticated criminals by imposing significant fines and imprisonment for their fraudulent trade mark renewal schemes. However, scammers are increasingly prevalent, and it is far less costly to prevent a scam, than to remedy one.

Footnote

1. Targeting scams: Report of the National Anti-Scam Centre on scams activity 2023 (Report no.1 April 2024) 15.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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