Fraudulent invoice from the “German Patent and Trademark Office, Information and Service Center Berlin” in circulation!
Fraudsters are requesting mass transfers from brand owners, ostensibly in the name of a high-ranking DPMA employee - DPMA has initiated a criminal investigation.
The current case involves counterfeit invoices to owners of registered trademarks that illegally contain the DPMA logo and the address of the DPMA's information and service center in Berlin. They are allegedly written in the name of a high-ranking employee of the higher federal authority and call for certain sums to be paid into foreign accounts.
Fake invoices from the “German Patent and Trademark Office, Information and Service Center Berlin”
The fake invoices that the DPMA has so far appeared to have been sent by prepaid letter. They refer to Polish bank details. According to current knowledge, the letters are addressed to trademark owners whose applications were received in 2020 or earlier and who have already received their trademark certificate.
Since Tuesday, the office's central customer service in Munich has numerous inquiries from alarmed citizens . By Tuesday afternoon, the DPMA had received more than 200 emails and calls about this. “This is obviously once again a particularly brazen case of fraud,” said DPMA President Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer. “We immediately filed a report again so that the matter could be prosecuted.”

The DPMA registered a similar fraud case in July. At that time, the requests were aimed at people and companies whose registered trademarks had not yet been registered. At the time, the invoices were ostensibly submitted in the name of a high-ranking DPMA employee.
DPMA does not issue any invoices!
The German Patent and Trademark Office calls on you not to respond to such payment requests. The authority expressly points out that no official invoices or payment requests will be sent for registration, annual and renewal fees. In confirmations of receipt that the office sends following a trademark application, only fee information is provided. Each registrant is responsible for transferring the fees on time. No additional fees are charged for the publication of intellectual property rights in the official registers. Transfers addressed to the DPMA should be transferred to the Federal Treasury account with the IBAN DE84 7000 0000 0070 0010 54
The DPMA advises all those affected who already transferred money to make a report themselves . Anyone who has received such letters can send them to the office so that they can be attached to the report.
How to recognize dubious letters
In addition to the current case, citizens are repeatedly being illegally or misleadingly asked to pay supposed fees or are confronted with dubious offers. The offer nature of the letters is often not apparent at first glance and is often only apparent upon careful reading of a small print text or the general terms and conditions, some of which are printed on the back. Anyone who receives such letters with requests for payment for intellectual property rights should always check them carefully. Indications that this is not an official letter are, for example, bank account details for the company abroad, for example in Poland (PL), Cyprus (ZY), Tunisia (TN) or Bulgaria (BG) or a pre-filled transfer form.
Further information on misleading payment requests and official fees can be found on the DPMA website .
The German Patent and Trademark Office: Inventiveness and creativity need effective protection. The DPMA is the German competence center for all intellectual property rights - for patents, utility models, trademarks and designs. As the largest national patent office in Europe and the fifth largest national patent office in the world, it represents the future of Germany, the country of inventors, in a globalized economy. Its almost 2,800 employees at three locations – Munich, Jena and Berlin – are service providers for inventors and companies. They implement federal innovation strategies and further develop national, European and international protection systems.
Source: German Patent and Market Office
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