[E-trademarks] what to do about a tranche of filings?

[Laura Geyer]

Anonymous:

Be sure to check your Rules of Professional Responsibility. You may be positively obligated to report the lawyer now that you’ve drilled down enough to see that this is pretty obviously fraud. I would also contact OED (maybe even first, just for advice if nothing else) although they are all “patent patent patent”, they do have this little tiny thing that includes trademark lawyers:


All attorneys and agents practicing before the USPTO in trademark or patent matters are subject to the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct set forth in 37 C.F.R. §§ 11.101 et. seq. and disciplinary jurisdiction under 37 C.F.R. § 11.19(a). Additionally, unauthorized individuals who represent others before the USPTO are subject to the disciplinary jurisdiction of the USPTO. See 37 C.F.R. §11.19(a).



Contact OED
Phone: 571-272-4097
Fax: 571-273-0074
Email: OED at uspto.gov<mailto:OED at uspto.gov>


Laura Talley Geyer | Of Counsel

ND Galli Law LLC
1200 G Street, N.W., Ste 800
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 599-9019 (direct)
https://ndgallilaw.com/laura-geyer/
https://ndgallilaw.com/

From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 8:34 PM
To: for trademark practitioners <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com>
Subject: [E-trademarks] what to do about a tranche of filings?

EXTERNAL EMAIL
A listserv member asks to post anonymously ...

I’ve become aware of a single named U.S. lawyer on multitudes of recently filed U.S. trademark applications for Chinese nationals and companies with over 950 applications filed since July and counting.  While I have not looked closely at all of them, the ones I’ve reviewed claim use and include a specimen showing the mark on a single type of good though the identification of goods are typically far reaching and include normally unrelated goods.  In tracking down the attorney, I anticipated they might not be aware their identity was being used on these filings, but I was able to reach a real person claiming to be the named attorney by phone and email.  As you might anticipate from my wording, I’m not wholly convinced the person I’ve reached is actually the named attorney.  I should also mention that this person’s name does not appear on a single trademark filing at the USPTO prior to July though the person was admitted to practice back in 1998.  I can’t find anything about the nature of this lawyer’s practice or work history online.

Since the named attorney is signing these applications attesting to the questionable far-ranging use on such a large number of filings, I believe they may be committing fraud.  I’m thinking of reporting the activity to the attorney’s state bar, but I’d love to get opinions on what exactly my role ought to be here  and whether I also should be reporting anything to the USPTO.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/e-trademarks_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20241022/a79ae7d0/attachment.html>