Once you register a trademark, your name and address become public record. Within months, official-looking renewal solicitations start arriving by mail and email. Most aren't from the USPTO. Here's how to tell the difference and what to do with the rest.
Done in seconds. No sign-up required.
A few simple checks separate the two. Memorize these and most fakes become obvious.
The USPTO maintains a regularly updated list of misleading solicitations on uspto.gov/trademarks/protect/examples-fraudulent-misleading-solicitations. The names rotate as old companies are exposed and new ones launch, but a few have been around long enough to appear in PAA results year after year:
Receiving a letter from one of these doesn't mean you have a problem to solve. It means you have a piece of mail to throw away. The real renewal happens at uspto.gov, through the TEAS portal, with USPTO-issued fees only.
Because the trademark renewal space has so many scams, it's worth being explicit: BoldRemind is not a renewal service. It does not file anything with the USPTO. It does not collect USPTO fees. It does not represent you. It is an email reminder tool — you set a reminder for a date you choose, and you receive an email a few days before that date.
The actual filing still happens through USPTO.gov or your own attorney, with the standard USPTO fees paid directly to the USPTO. If anyone — including services that look like BoldRemind — asks you to send payment to a third party for a USPTO filing, it should be treated the same way as any other solicitation.
Setting a trademark renewal reminder is useful precisely because owners with their own reminder system are less likely to panic-pay a scam solicitation. You already know when your real deadline is.
Real USPTO communications come from email addresses ending in @uspto.gov and reference your serial number, registration number, and your specific deadlines. They never demand payment by check to a private address. If a notice asks you to send payment to a P.O. box, a private street address, or a company that isn't the USPTO, treat it as a solicitation, not a real renewal notice.
It's a private business, not a government agency, and it's not affiliated with the USPTO. It can technically forward filings to the USPTO on your behalf for a fee, but its solicitation letters are designed to look like government notices, which has earned it a place on the USPTO's list of misleading solicitations. You don't need a third-party renewal service to file at all.
Scam solicitors scrape the public USPTO trademark database (TSDR) and mail letters to anyone whose registration is approaching any milestone — sometimes years early. They rely on owners panicking and paying without checking. The USPTO sends courtesy emails about a year before the actual deadline, never years.
No. They are commercial solicitations, not bills, even if they're formatted to look like invoices. You owe nothing unless you signed up for that company's services. Read the small print — most include a disclaimer in tiny font stating they are not government notices.
It's public record. The USPTO Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) database lists registration numbers, marks, owner names, and correspondence addresses. Scammers download these records and target everyone whose dates are coming up. Receiving a solicitation doesn't mean you've been hacked.
Forward suspicious emails to TMScams@uspto.gov and report misleading mail to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The USPTO maintains a public list of known fraudulent or misleading solicitations on uspto.gov.
Free. No filings. No fees collected. You set the date for your real Section 8 or Section 9 window, and you get an email before it. The actual renewal still happens at USPTO.gov.
Set Trademark Renewal ReminderLast modified: