Mike McArthur, an associate in Haynes Boone’s Intellectual Property practice group, was quoted in a Managing Intellectual Property article titled “Managing Sketchy Emails: How Counsel Fight Scams and Spam.” Read an excerpt below.
Practitioners generally don’t sit around, twiddling their thumbs, wishing they had more emails to sort through which is why it’s especially frustrating for them when they and their colleagues get a slew of unsolicited or misleading messages, often from less than reputable characters.
In terms of misleading correspondence, it’s been well publicized that bad actors have impersonated the USPTO to demand payments from unsuspecting trademark owners. Attorneys have had to stay alert for these scammers to prevent themselves and their clients from getting duped. …
Michael McArthur, associate at Haynes Boone in Dallas, says his firm constantly reminds clients that communications about applications should come from its counsel – and issues these reminders whenever it reports to clients that it’s filed new applications or responded to office actions.
The firm also reports trademark scams to the USPTO and encourages clients to do the same. …
McArthur at Haynes Boone says that if he receives watch notices from firms he doesn’t know in foreign jurisdictions, he’ll check with his local counsel in those countries to find out whether the information is accurate.
To read the full Managing IP article, click here.
