USPTO is receiving a surge in trademark applications from China – mostly fraudulent

[Matthew D. Asbell, Fordham university adjunct professor of law, Ladas & Parry LLP associate, Eric Perrott, trademark and copyright attorney partner, and Hannah Rosenson, Epstein Drangel LLP partner, 7-6-22, “The USPTO Has Enacted the Trademark Modernization Act: But Now What?,” https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2021-22/june-july/the-uspto-has-enacted-trademark-modernization-act-now-what/, 7-11-24, EP]

To make matters worse, many of those trademarks should not have registered in the first place. The USPTO has also been experiencing an unprecedented surge in trademark applications from overseas, particularly from China. Many of these applications share a number of unusual features, including lists of goods within a class that are unlikely to be sold together in the marketplace and evidence of use (i.e., specimens) that appear to be mock-ups or doctored images.