Hello blog readers. I imagine readers of this blog have been following the new Examination Guide which was published just this past Thursday February 6, and which will take effect this coming Saturday February 15. According to the Guide, starting on this coming Saturday a trademark applicant, even if represented by an attorney, will be required to disclose his or her personal email address in the US trademark application. The email address will be published in TSDR in the “documents” tab. This will of course get harvested by scammers and spearphishers and worse.
My best guess is that many readers would react to this with the feeling that the Trademark Office needs to mask the email addresses, just like it masks the attorney bar information.
With that in mind, an informal group of trademark practitioners is going to send a letter to the acting Commissioner this coming Tuesday evening. She would find it on her desk on Wednesday morning.
The point of this email is to let you know of the effort. If you would like to join the informal effort, you can. See blog.oppedahl.com/?page_id=5405 .
This is a ridiculous and potentially dangerous requirement. In my almost 39 years of practice, I have noticed, sadly (and madly), a definite decline in the awareness by the Trademark Office of and the appreciation for the actual practice of trademark law in the private sector. This is just one more burden on the clients and their legal representatives.
As others have noted, instead of reducing fraud opportunities, this requirement will instead increase exponentially. Please do not implement this requirement.
I, too, object to this new requirement for an Applicant’s email address. Having practiced in IP for over 30 years I have seen many, many instances where clients have been misled (or would have been if they had not contacted me first) by bad actors attempting to trick them into sending money to the bad actor who presents themselves as representatives of the USPTO, or even as the Applicant’s counsel! When I file an application I make sure that my client signs it before I finalize the submission. I always include my client’s telephone number as an emergency method for the USPTO to contact the Applicant. This should be sufficient. As a reliable, reputable IP attorney I make sure that my contact information is up to date in the USPTO and that they have more than one way to contact me. This new requirement will play right into the hands of the tricksters, and my clients will not be happy with the USPTO or with me for letting it happen.