Warning for fake invoices

For quite some time now fake invoices have been sent out to cheat holders of intellectual property rights out of their money. Should you receive an invoice for maintaining your patent, trademark or design registration, please verify whether the invoice has indeed been sent out by an official authority.

Several companies have been sending invoices for the entry of patent, trademark or design registration in a non-existing or non-official register. These companies operate under names that may sound like government bodies. Examples include World Bureau Intellectual Property, International Bureau for Intellectual Property, International Register for Trademark and Patent. Should you receive a reminder for the renewal of your registration, we kindly advise you to verify whether the reminder has indeed been sent by the official authority. In case of any doubt please make sure to contact us.

Unfortunately these invoices look almost the same as a reliable invoice. You can think about the use of QR codes and barcodes. Please visit the websites of EPO and WIPO for some examples. In these cases we also kindly advise you to contact your NLO and/or NLO Shieldmark advisor and have us analyse whether you have received a fake invoice.