The USPTO will not call you and ask for a payment, and it will not email you a surprise invoice for a "trademark renewal service" or a private registry. Trademark application and registration records are public. Scammers use that data to send letters, emails, and phone calls that look official.
If you are not sure a request is real, check the file yourself in TSDR or ask your attorney. Do not pay, and do not give card or bank details, until you have confirmed that the USPTO or your own law firm actually sent the request.
Phone scams
Scammers have been calling businesses, spoofing the USPTO Trademark Assistance Center's phone number, and asking for "government fees" over the phone. Hang up. The USPTO does not collect trademark fees that way.
If Markavo is your attorney of record, we will not call and ask you to pay a USPTO fee to a third-party number. Official fee requests from us come through our usual billing process.
Letters and emails that look official
Common solicitations use your serial number, registration number, filing date, or class number, and a name that sounds like a government office. They often offer one of these:
International "registration" or listing in a private trademark directory
Trademark monitoring
Recording a trademark with U.S. Customs
A "renewal" or "maintenance" service, timed around a real deadline
The company name may include words such as "United States," "U.S.," "Trademark," "Patent," "Registration," "Office," or "Agency." The USPTO has published many examples of these mailings over the years, under names like Trademark Renewal Service, United States Trademark Maintenance Service, TM Edition, and similar titles. You can usually ignore a letter or email like this.
A genuine maintenance deadline is still real. Confirm it in TSDR or in our trademark renewal guide.
What to do
Do not pay, and do not share payment information, on an unsolicited call, email, or letter.
Check the official status and dates in TSDR.
If Markavo represents you, forward the message to us before you respond.
If you already paid a suspicious invoice, contact your bank or card issuer, and tell us if we are your attorney of record.
Markavo is a U.S. trademark law firm, not a monitoring mill and not the USPTO. If you want to confirm that, see How do I know Markavo is a real company and not a scam?.