Warning Regarding Fraudulent Payment Requests
The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) has been informed that applicants are receivingfraudulent letters and emailsrequesting payment of fees for services relatedto trademarks and industrial designs; for example, publication, registration, or inclusion in business directories. In some cases, these communications fraudulently use the OEPM’s name, even going so far as to reproduce fake OEPM letterheads, seals, and signatures.
These “so-called companies” use the information they obtain from publications officially issued by the OEPM in accordance with the relevant law and send misleading payment letters to applicants or agents, specifying a bank account into which they are asked to make the payment.
The OEPM warns that these types of fraudulent letters are neither issued nor endorsed by the OEPM, nor do they have any legal validity. The OEPM also reminds the public that the fees paid when applying to register a trademark or trade name cover the processing costs and the maintenance of the registration throughout its ten-year legal term. The companies sending these letters have no connection to the OEPM, nor do they have any relationship with any of its official publications.
At ELZABURU, we recommend that, if you have any doubts, you forward any communication of this nature that you receive to us so that we can review and analyze it. Please send it to elzaburu@elzaburu.es or to your usual contact’s email address.