Doctored Trademark Specimens at the USPTO: Analysis of the Plague of Fake Specimens Threatening to Undermine the Principal Register

• Author: Eric J. Perrott
• Position: Eric J. Perrott is a trademark and copyright attorney with Gerben Law Firm, PLLC. He works on trademark prosecution issues and TTAB litigation, while serving as chair of the ABA-IPL's USPTO Operations Relating to Trademarks Committee.
• Pages: 23-27

Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 11, Number 1, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2018 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.

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T he United States Patent and Trademark Ofce’s

(USPTO’s) corps of trademark examining attor-

neys is grappling with a plague of fake, doctored,

and digitally altered specimens, and there is little

that the USPTO can do to prevent them. These

fraudulent specimens threaten to bring the exami-

nation process to a grinding halt and undermine

the integrity of the U.S. trademark application

system; but worse, they could have potentially

DOCTORED

TRADEMARK

SPECIMENS

AT THE USPTO

Analysis of the

Plague of Fake

Specimens

Threatening to

Undermine the

Principal Register

By Eric J. Perrott

Eric J. Perrott is a trademark and copyright attorney with Gerben

Law Firm, PLLC. He works on trademark prosecution issues and

TTAB litigation, while ser ving as chair of the ABA-IPL’s USPTO

Operations Relating to Trademarks Committee.

Photo: Anthony Nuccio/iStockPhoto