SCAMS, SCAMS, SCAMS: None Are Good, All Are Bad

Recently, my name was used as a part of a scam.  Sadly, I am not unique.  In fact, I joined a long list of intellectual property practitioners whose personal names have been used as a part of the same kind of scam.  But the scam is not about me (or any of my IP colleagues for that matter).  It’s about you.  In particular, it’s about getting you sufficiently flustered so that you will quickly part with your money to solve a non-existent issue before you figure out what’s going on.

The scam plays out as follows:

You receive an unexpected phone call, an “urgent” e-mail, or some other form of communication out of the blue.  The communication: (i) refers to a non-existent (or existing) urgent patent or trademark matter that requires your immediate attention; (ii) includes some information about you or your business that is publicly available; (iii) demands that you take immediate action or face negative consequences; and (iv) features the name of an intellectual property lawyer, patent