Raffay & Fleck
DEUTSCHE VERSIONUnfortunately, our clients increasingly receive misleading payment requests, invoices or contract offers resembling official correspondence. Most of these letters give the impression that payments must be made to maintain intellectual property rights; in fact, in most cases, senders are urging costly registration in spurious databanks. In other cases, the renewal of an existing intellectual property right, such as a trademark, is being offered although renewal is both premature and, in comparison to our price structure, overpriced.
Various government authorities have issued warnings and provide an extensive range of examples under the following links. You may very well find the sender of any misleading offer you have received as well as examples of the correspondence.
DPMA (with details of senders)
EPA (with examples of offers)
HABM (with examples of offers)
WIPO (with examples of offers)
Should you have any doubts about the authenticity and relevance of an offer, do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to advise you.
We would be delighted to advise you!
Domain registration queries
Our clients also receive a large number of dubious or misleading offers for domain registrations, especially with regard to Chinese domains or Chinese Internet keywords. We often deal with dubious attempts to market domain registrations and Internet keywords. The following chambers of commerce have also issued warnings:
COC Stuttgart
COC Heilbronn
You may also call us with individual queries. While hasty action is never advisable, a dubious offer also provides an opportunity to re-examine your protection portfolio. We are happy to provide guidance.