EUIPO trademark application follows fraudulent payment requests

Based on the feedback of a client from me, I would like to warn against new fraudulent payment requests after registration of an EU trademark.

In the context of registrations to the commercial register, payment requests are normal and even the commercial register warns against such letters. Most applicants should therefore be warned. However, in the context of applications for an EU trade mark, these letters are not yet too frequent, but seem to be increasing again at the moment. An example of this is the current letter from a Hungarian provider, which is very perfidious, so that you have to be very careful that this is NOT a request for payment from the EU Trademark Office.

Self-employed and founders should always take a close look before any funds are transferred. I am always available to clients via e-mail, telephone or Skype for precisely such cases as part of my comprehensive start-up advice.

However, established companies must also ensure that employees are trained and sensitized as part of the distribution of tasks. Too often, one has to experience how such invoices are settled in a short and painless manner by accounting staff and the like, without entrepreneurial experience. As a rule, recovering such a sum from outside the EU is only possible with great effort.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.