IP Australia has warned inventors, designers and businesses to be wary of unsolicited or fraudulent IP protection, promotional or advertising services.

If you own a registered patent or trade mark, you may find yourself the target of letters regarding overseas registration of your application. Letters from unfamiliar organisations, especially letters requesting payment for unsolicited services, should be treated with caution.

Examples of unsolicited service requests include:
• offers to register patents or trade marks in international registers;
• invoices for registration of patents or trade marks in registers;
• offers of patent or trade mark monitoring services.

IP Australia has published a list of companies known to send unsolicited requests.