Trademark scams: Beware of auction sites that sell invalid trademark registrations 

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Trademark Alert

Trademark scams: Beware of auction sites that sell invalid trademark registrations 

Use extreme caution when buying a registered trademark from an online auction site. Many of these registrations are linked to e-commerce specimen farms websites. These websites create improper specimens of use in an attempt to meet the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) application requirement for a specimen of use (a sample of how the mark is being used in commerce). 

If you buy an invalid trademark registration from an auction site, you won’t have any rights for that trademark. You will have lost time and money and possibly put your product at risk.  

• Know the risks associated with trademark auction sites.
• Find out how to challenge registrations that originated from specimen farms.

If you want to buy a registered trademark from an auction site, we highly recommend hiring an experienced trademark attorney to help you. 

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