This is not a new issue, but since a couple of my clients have received scam invoices lately, I thought it was worth mentioning.

All trade-marks are published by the trade-marks office before being granted to give an opportunity to others to oppose the mark if they feel they have prior rights.

It is not unusual for a business to get what appears to be an invoice for a trade-marks publication shortly after their trade-mark is published. Those invoices are not real – or at best is a solicitation for an overpriced listing in an unnecessary publication.

In general, any invoice that does not come from your trade-mark agent is suspect.

These scam invoices are so common that the Canadian trade-marks office has a warning about them on every trade-mark approval notice it sends.