Leason Ellis resolves dispute with TM scammer
Law firm Leason Ellis has reportedly secured a settlement against a company that allegedly charged consumers hundreds of dollars to have their trademarks published in a “database”.
The law firm filed its complaint against Patent & Trademark Association (PTMA) in July last year at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Leason Ellis alleged that PTMA’s solicitation notices were “designed to induce” trademark owners to pay PTMA for their trademarks to be listed on a PTMA database.
“PTMA is one such company seeking to confuse trademark owners into purchasing services under false colour of authority,” said the claim.
The law firm claimed that PTMA had engaged in false advertising, unfair competition, deceptive acts and practices, among others.
Leason Ellis went on to state that the service offered no commercial value, because published trademark information is freely available online at the US Patent and Trademark Office, and that PTMA was sending notices that were designed to look like they were from an official government enterprise.
Under the settlement, PTMA is permanently barred from engaging in trademark or IP-related activities in the US, according to Leason Ellis.
Several of PTMA’s domain names, including ptma.us, were also recovered.
In 2014, Leason Ellis secured a consent judgment against a separate alleged scammer, Patent & Trademark Agency, two years after obtaining a consent judgment from another called USA Trademark Enterprises.
“By vigorously taking legal action to combat these predatory companies, Leason Ellis continues to be an industry leader in the fight for fairer business practices and in the battle to protect trademark goodwill and trust from unjust exploitation,” said a press release from the company.
This is not the first development surrounding trademark scams this year. In January, WIPR reported that the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, Sweden had sentenced 20 individuals involved in sending fake invoices to trademark applicants.
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