Cases of fraud involving payment requests in the field of intellectual property are increasingly observed today. According to a Europol manual, approximately 2% of applicants (or around 8,000 victims annually) fall prey to this type of fraud, which can generate earnings of up to EUR 16 million for a single fraudster.

 

To warn applicants and intellectual property rights holders, the Intellectual Property Rights Infringement Monitoring Center (hereinafter referred to as the IPR Monitoring Center) of the UANIPIO has developed guidelines on how to avoid falling victim to fraud when making payments for national and international registration of IPR objects.

 

How fraudsters operate

 

Fraudsters primarily send misleading invoices or letters via email. The demands vary: to pay for a “non-existent” service or actual fees, but to fictitious accounts. The letters and invoices sent by fraudsters contain information that calls into question the legitimacy of such requests. Some of these indicators are described below.

 

Suspicious elements in letters and invoices:

 

• urgency of payment and short deadline;
• notification of changes to bank details;
• sentences highlighted in red;
• elements resembling the official name of the office or its logo;
• presence of spelling errors.

 

How to act if you receive a suspicious payment request:

 

• do not rush to pay the invoice, even if it is urgent;
• carefully review the letter, paying special attention to the invoice details and sender;
• verify whether the source is official and check the payment procedure with the relevant office;
• keep the misleading invoice or letter as evidence;
• consult a lawyer or intellectual property representative.

 

Additionally, we invite you to explore the Cybersecurity.UA special project series “Financial Fraud in Cyberspace”. Here, the Cyberpolice provide useful advice on how to avoid falling victim to fraudsters, as well as describe the most dangerous current financial schemes.

 

If you have become a victim of fraudulent activities, we recommend submitting a report along with relevant evidence to the National Police of Ukraine and/or the Cyber Police Department.

 

Payment of fees and services at the IP Office

 

When registering intellectual property objects, the IP Office sends notifications about the requirement to pay fees to the correspondence address (applicant or intellectual property representative) or to the electronic account, if electronic correspondence is provided.

 

The official bank details for fee payments can be found in the “Bank Details” section.

 

The list of fees and their amounts are established by the Procedure for Payment of Fees Related to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights.

 

The list of additional services provided by the IP Office can be found in the Procedure for the Provision of Paid Services of the State Organization Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO/ IP Office).

 

Please note that fraudsters may mislead applicants by using names similar to the official names of the IP Office (for example, UKRNOIVI, UANOPIO). Therefore, we would like to emphasize the official names of the Ukrainian IP Office:

 

Full name – State Organization “Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations”

Abbreviated – UANIPIO

 

Recommendations from international organizations

 

Most of the national intellectual property offices and IPR owners associations are updating their websites with similar information. Further information is available via the links below.

 

World Intellectual Property Organization

European Patent Office

BENELUX Association for Trade Mark and Design Law

German Intellectual Property Office

Irish Intellectual Property Office

Bulgarian Intellectual Property Office

 

The WIPO website provides a list of international public bodies and consumer protection associations that accept complaints regarding misleading invoices.

 

Review and Key Points Presentation of the EUROPOL Procedure Manual

 

The IPR Monitoring Center has prepared a review of the EUROPOL manual titled “Guidelines for responding to misleading payment requests for intellectual property system users,” which is available at the following link.

 

 

The manual provides practical recommendations on how to avoid misleading payment requests when registering a trademark in the European Union.

 

Contact information

 

To support the development of preventive measures against fraud and to facilitate the analysis of statistical data, please report any violations to the IPR Monitoring Center using the following contact points:

 

Nataliia Denis

 

Deputy Head

 

IPR Monitoring Center

 

nataliia.denis@nipo.gov.ua