Increased trademark applications deck fraud response.

Identifying inherent fraud risks affecting the program. The USPTO has taken steps to identify inherent fraud risks from the universe of potential vulnerabilities facing the trademark register, including threats from various sources. USPTO officials described two different types of fraud schemes in the trademark system: filing mills and criminal groups. Filing mills are a common scheme in which companies file thousands of trademark applications, without any actual use, to receive trademark registrations that can subsequently be resold for a profit to those seeking access to the U.S market on ecommerce websites. Another common scheme involves criminal groups posing as the USPTO to fraudulently request money from trademark owners or steal client account information. According to USPTO officials, most of the agency’s current fraud monitoring activities are ad hoc and include monitoring internal sources like the TMscams@USPTO.gov inbox, where applicants, registrants, and attorneys that have encountered potentially fraudulent behavior can submit complaints to the agency, and external sources like trade publications such as the World Trademark Review. Agency officials said that the high volume of trademark applications and constantly changing fraud schemes make assessing fraud risks to the trademark register difficult, especially with limited resources.