Warning: scam notices related to patents or trademarks

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is aware of various scam mail or email being sent to holders of patent and trademark registrations. These fraudulent communications are designed to closely resemble CIPO notices. They target owners of patents and trademarks, attempting to deceive them into taking action based on misleading information.

Quick facts about scam notices:

• They often say that your patent or trademark protection is about to expire and ask you to renew registrations or pay fees. Typically, the fees "due" are higher than CIPO fees. Verify our list of fees.
• To sound legitimate, they incorporate information from public records available in CIPO databases.
• They can include cautionary language such as "patent cancellation notice" or "important notification regarding your federal trademark."
• Some notices even include "Canada" or "Canadian" in the company name and letterhead, making them appear official.
• They can offer to add you to directories which appear official, or offer services similar to those already provided by CIPO.

Remember, legitimate notices about Canadian patents or trademarks nearing expiry will only come from CIPO.

How to tell it's legitimate

• Mail notices from CIPO will come from this address: 50 Victoria St., Gatineau, QC, K1A 0C9.
• Emails from CIPO will have the "@ised-isde.gc.ca" domain name.
• Notices about international applications under the Madrid Protocol would come from the World Intellectual Property Organization address or from the domain "@wipo.int".

Examples of non-CIPO notices

The examples are in the language in which the original document was submitted to CIPO.

• Scam notice 1 ( PDF : 640 KB ; 1 page)
• Scam notice 2 ( PDF : 312 KB ; 1 page) (in French only)
• Scam notice 3 ( PDF : 326 KB ; 1 page)
• Scam notice 4 ( PDF : 145 KB ; 1 page)
• Scam notice 5 ( PDF : 2.6  MB ; 1 page)
• Scam notice 6 ( PDF : 2.4  MB ; 1 page)
• Scam notice 7 ( PDF :106  KB ; 2 pages)
• Scam notice 8 (PDF: 38 KB; 2 pages)
• Scam notice 9 (PDF: 38 KB; 2 pages)
• Scam notice 10 (PDF: 1.1 MB; 1 page)
• Scam notice 11 (PDF: 298 KB; 1 page)

Think you received a fake notice?

If you're suspicious of something you received related to a fee payment, service offer, renewal/maintenance fee, or similar requests:

• email us at: ic.contact-contact.ic@ised-isde.gc.ca and attach a copy of the suspicious document.
• follow the steps to report fraud and scams in Canada.

We also recommend reading this article from the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (CPATA) for additional tips to avoid scams, including a list of business names that have been used in fraudulent trademark emails:

• Trademark Scam Circulating – CPATA Advises Public Caution

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