The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has warned users to be vigilant of potential IP scams. This warning follows reports of a recent scam in which a misleading invoice purporting to be from the EUIPO has been sent to applicants.

The invoice takes the form of a fake EUIPO decision and is almost identical to documentation used by the EUIPO using the same logo, name, acronym and letterhead. The EUIPO has issued an example of the misleading invoice here.

The aim of the scam is to mislead users into sending a “registration fee” to a Polish bank account with a PL IBAN prefix. The EUIPO has clarified that it never sends invoices or demands for payment of money to its users.  Additionally, in the normal course of events the EUIPO and most other IP offices will correspond with representatives, not directly with applicants.

The EUIPO is now taking criminal action against these scammers having lodged a criminal complaint with the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Poland and the investigation is pending.

However, many of these invoices may still be in circulation as well as similar scam emails and attempts of fraud which have been reported by several national IP offices in recent times.

If Wilson Gunn are your exclusive IP advisors, it would be very rare for authentic invoices to be issued by anyone but us (we pay official fees on your behalf or arrange for payment by foreign associates and we invoice you correspondingly). If you are ever concerned that you may have received a fraudulent invoice, please contact your usual advisor at Wilson Gunn for advice.