Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has seen a surge in trademark filings by 40%, which is the greatest number of new applications in trademark history. This rise in filings can at least partially be attributed to foreign entities. Many foreign manufacturers that want to sell to U.S. consumers have been told that they must have a U.S. registered trademark for their product to be prioritized on e-commerce sales platforms. Although foreign manufacturers are aware of the USPTO’s policies, they still try to find a way to get around them, such as hijacking the credentials of U.S. licensed attorneys or using questionable U.S. attorneys who don’t pay attention to their paperwork. Unfortunately, this has driven the USPTO to crack down on its policies. Because of the rise in applications, the USPTO has had to employ new strategies and tactics to combat fraudulent trademarks and trademark related scams, instead of relying on the good faith intentions of its customers. The USPTO has created a special task force consisting of attorneys, analysts, cyber investigators and IT personnel, to investigate suspected fraudulent applications. Those suspected of fraud will be required to submit more information to support their filing(s) and if their response is inadequate, they will be sanctioned. This task force along with other tools employed by the USPTO has had a positive impact on accuracy. To read more about the strategies and tactics being employed by the USPTO, see its blog post here.

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