[E-trademarks] GAO report: Stronger Fraud Risk Management Could Improve the Integrity of the Trademark System

[Erik Pelton]

A report regarding the USPTO's handling of trademark fraud was released by the GAO last week. I have not seen it reported anywhere.

Of course it will not surprise many readers of the listserv, but the U.S. Government Accountability Office made it official in a report sent to the judiciary committees of the House and Senate, as well as the Secretary Commerce: the GAO recommends "improving USPTO's fraud risk management to help address the problem" of registrations that "may include false or inaccurate claims and could be fraudulent."

Some key findings:
The USPTO has not conducted a comprehensive fraud risk assessment of the trademark register or designed a fraud risk strategy. Implementing leading practices from GAO's Fraud Risk Framework would allow the USPTO to comprehensively consider fraud risks, establish more effective controls, and fully articulate a tolerable level of fraud risk while considering the costs and benefits of potential control activities. GAO also found that the USPTO's current data systems do not allow the agency to: (1) assess the effectiveness of current trademark fraud prevention programs and (2) implement new technologies for identifying fraud. Academics told GAO that computational tools such as predictive analytics could help the USPTO identify trademark applications with false or inaccurate information more effectively.

Details and full report from the GAO here:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106533

Erik Pelton
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