News & Publications

News

2 December 2009

Misleading Advertising finding for Trade Mark 'Invoice'

The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK has ruled that a direct mailing from a company purporting to register trade marks was misleading. We have previously written about this type of solicitation in which a trade mark owner receives an official-looking request to pay fees, but these fees are in fact are unrelated to the client's actual registration or to any official trade mark register.

The mailing which the ASA adjudicated on was sent to businesses by a company trading as "Community Trade Marks and Designs" and included details of a trade mark name and payment information. Text stated "Payment due to: ... Total to pay: 750,00 € ... Please pay the whole amount stated above within 10 days". However, the small print stated " ... This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated underneath unless you accept the offer ... ". The ASA considered that the small print contradicted the overall impression that the ad was an official request for payment. Furthermore, they considered the small print did not go far enough in removing that impression and the ad did not make sufficiently clear that it was a marketing communication.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent body set up by the advertising industry to police the rules laid down in the advertising codes.

If you receive a letter or invoice in relation to your intellectual property rights from anyone other than FRKelly, please check carefully what is being offered to you and whether you can be sure that it comes from an official source. If you have any doubts, please contact us before paying fees to third parties. We are always happy to advise whether such correspondence is genuine, at no charge to our clients.