Trade Mark Scammers Targeting Irish Businesses

Reddy Charlton has become aware that several of our clients have recently been contacted by scammers impersonating legitimate trade mark agents.

We have seen a number of iterations of the scam which always involves an unsolicited email warning urgent action is needed.  The scam emails typically relate to European trade mark applications or registrations. The senders attempt to pressure businesses into applying for EU trade marks by claiming that another party intends to register their business name. They often warn that failure to act could result in litigation costs running to tens of thousands of euros.

What Should You Do?

These are scam emails so do not respond or engage with them.

If you do not have a registered trade mark then, this may be an opportune time to consider whether your business or product name or logo is something that you should seek to protect.

The scammers are correct that having a company or business name registered in the CRO does not itself provide any protection in those names.  The general law does offer some protection in an unregistered trade mark where you have a sufficiently established reputation but enforcing rights in an unregistered trade mark is generally be more difficult and costly than in the case of a registered trade mark.

How We Can Help

If you or your business:

• have received suspicious communications about trade marks;
• are concerned about potential infringement; or
• would like to explore registering your brand in Ireland or the EU;

Reddy Charlton’s Intellectual Property team is here to advise and assist.