The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently revised a rule that now requires trademark applicants to include an email address in their trademark application, even if they're represented by an attorney. This is a massive departure from the normal rule in which a law firm, like ours, could provide our email address and protect the client's privacy by not having to include their personal email address in their application.
This is incredibly important because of the number of scams that trademark applicants are subject to. If you've ever filed a trademark application, you may have already received some scams by mail, such as letters asking you to pay money for a renewal that isn’t due.
When the USPTO announced this rule, lawyers revolted. We penned letters, asked for signatures, and told the USPTO that they should never implement this requirement. Despite this, they went ahead and applied the rule anyway, and now we’re seeing the repercussions.
On February 26th, our firm received an email from a freelance worker claiming he could provide a list of email addresses for individuals that have filed trademark applications. It went on to say that the USPTO makes it difficult for attorneys to quickly get access to all the emails, so this individual developed a way to compile the data effortlessly. This is exactly the sort of issue many attorneys were worried the new rule change would incite.
In an effort to protect our clients, we are asking the United States Patent and Trademark Office to listen to our concerns. There is no need to require a client's email address when they are represented by an attorney in a trademark application. It unnecessarily exposes people to scams, and this rule should be completely thrown in the trash.
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