We have reported before that scam surrounding trademarks are on the rise.
One that seems to be doing the rounds of the past few weeks has come to light after various clients contacted us after receiving formal legal notices relating to trademark applications, allegedly issued by “Distinction Law”.
One of these clients is a close personal friend of mine, who suffers with anxiety, the letter really shook her.
The UK trademark scam has expanded rapidly, with fraudsters now sending out everything from a fake trademark scam letter in the post to convincing email impersonations.
If you have received one of these letters or emails, you are not alone, and you are right to question it.
It’s like Domain Name selling when the internet was new.
People used to call business owners telling them that the domain of their business name was about to be purchased, and would sell them a £5 domain name for £500.
The difference then was that they at least did register the domain. These scams are often far worse.
How they word their letters.
I’ve shared a redacted letter for you to view below:
From: jennifer@legalnotice.distinction-law.com
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 11:00:06 AM
To: XXXX (Hidden for our client privacy)
Subject: Formal Legal Notice Regarding Your Business Name
Hello Vanessa,
We write on behalf of the Trademark Division of Distinction Law Limited regarding a pending application for the mark “XXXX”, which is scheduled for imminent submission to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO).
This correspondence constitutes a formal legal notice issued as part of our mandatory pre-filing due diligence under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and UKIPO regulatory practice.
Following an internal rights assessment, your organisation has been identified as a party that may hold prior commercial or legal interests in the name “XXXX” within the United Kingdom. As such, your position must be clarified before the application proceeds further.
Our review specifically concerns:
- Potential prior use in the course of trade, capable of giving rise to enforceable rights under Section 5(4)(a) of the Trade Marks Act 1994;
- Any grounds for opposition under Section 5, including unregistered rights, trade names, goodwill, or other earlier interests.
You are hereby required to confirm, within 48 hours of receipt of this notice, whether:
- You or your organisation have used, or are currently using, the name “XXXX” within the United Kingdom; and/or
- You assert any form of legal, commercial, or equitable rights in respect of the same.
If you intend to oppose or challenge the application, you must provide a clear written objection, together with supporting evidence, within the stated timeframe. Any such evidence must meet the evidentiary standards prescribed under the Trade Marks Rules 2008.
Please be advised:
- In the absence of a response within 48 hours, we will proceed on the recorded basis that no objection or competing rights are being asserted;
- Such non-response may significantly limit your ability to challenge, oppose, or enforce rights against the mark at a later stage;
- The application will proceed without further notice to you.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, should you be actively trading under the name and wish to secure exclusive statutory protection, we are able, subject to your immediate written instructions, to prioritise the preparation and filing of a UK trademark application on your behalf ahead of the current submission.
This opportunity is extended in recognition of your potential status as a prior user of the mark, thereby enabling you to regularise and secure your rights through formal registration under the Trade Marks Act 1994 prior to any competing application proceeding further.
You should also note the following legal implications:
- The UK trademark system operates on a strict first-to-file basis;
- Registration confers exclusive enforceable rights under the Trade Marks Act 1994;
- Registered rights may be relied upon in domain name disputes, including proceedings under Nominet DRS.
For compliance, audit, and evidentiary purposes, all communications in relation to this matter must remain strictly in writing.
This matter is time-sensitive and requires your immediate attention. We strongly advise that you respond within the stipulated timeframe to avoid any adverse legal or commercial consequences.
Yours faithfully,
Jennifer Christine Walford Al-Salim
Registered IP Solicitor
86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE, England
SRA: 440200
Phone: +44 2080890241
https://distinction-law.com/
There are a few different scam firms behind these communications. Common variants include the trademark renewal scam, the trademark renewal service scam, and the patent & trademark office scam, but they all tend to:
- Claim to be a formal legal notice relating to a pending UK trademark application
- Create urgency with tight deadlines (often 48 hours)
- Suggest you may lose rights if you do not respond
- Offer to file a trademark on your behalf as a solution
They are designed to make you panic buy. They reference UK law, include legal wording, and appear to come from a regulated firm.
But when you look closer, there are serious concerns.
How to spot a scam
1- Mismatch with the real firm
Distinction Law Limited is a genuine regulated entity.
However, the communications we have seen:
- Use different SRA numbers
- Come from alternative email domains
Reference individuals who do not appear connected to the firm
2- Use of real solicitor names
These scams often use the names of real solicitors who are either:
- Retired
- No longer practising
- Based outside the UK
In the most recent case, we attempted to contact the named individual via LinkedIn but have yet to receive any response.
3- Suspicious website behaviour
Scratch beneath the surface of the fancy AI produced website and you’ll notice it:
- Uses a toll-free US number despite claiming to operate in the UK
- Contains Americanised wording such as “organized” and “prioritized”
- Includes buttons and links that do not function properly
Not what you would expect from a regulated UK law firm.
4-Pressure tactics
The letters are designed to create urgency and uncertainty:
- “You must respond within 48 hours”
- “Failure to respond may limit your rights”
- “We can prioritise filing on your behalf”
This is not how regulated firms operate. Sufficient notice has to be provided before any action is taken.
There is nothing stopping you setting up a solicitor’s company.
You absolutely cannot act as a solicitor without being regulated, however you can form a company on Companies House and call it a solicitor, it is hard to believe how easily companies can present themselves as something they are not.
The company linked to these communications appears on Companies House with the SIC code:
- 69102 – Solicitors
You can view the listing here:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12997593
In our view, it is appalling that a company can select this classification without having to demonstrate that it is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
For the average business owner, this creates a false sense of legitimacy. Seeing a company listed as “Solicitors” strongly implies regulation and oversight, when that may not be the case.
This gap makes it significantly easier for misleading or fraudulent operations to appear credible.
Why are you being targeted?
We don’t know exactly how the senders of these letters choose who to write to. From the ones forwarded to us, they tend to pick businesses that:
- are established and have been trading for a while
- have a strong name, logo or tagline that customers know them by
- have not registered a trademark
They know you should have one. They are counting on a moment of panic, when paying them feels quicker than finding a legitimate adviser. The people who have told us they paid after a letter like this rarely received anything for their money.
How did the letter make you feel?
If it worried you, take that seriously. However badly meant, the letter has put its finger on something real: your brand may not be protected, and a registered trademark is the best way to protect it.
Ask yourself what it would cost if you had to stop using your name tomorrow and rebrand: the signage, the website, the packaging, the stationery, and the years of reputation built under that name.
Can you register your name?
Not always, which is why we check first. A trademark is not guaranteed. Your name has to be distinctive enough in your sector, and however long you have been trading, someone else may already own a trademark for it without you having felt the consequences yet.
That is why we always start with a free trademark search, followed by a Trademark Clearance Audit and consultation, so we can assess everything and flag any threats before you spend anything on official fees.
Trademarks are not just for big companies
They are not expensive: the UKIPO’s own fee for a UK trademark starts at £205 for ten years of protection, for one class, applied for online. And they are not a cost. A registered trademark is a business asset in its own right. For more detailed pricing, try our trademark cost calculator.
The key is keeping a regular watch on the trademark registers, Companies House, social media, marketplaces and even search engines. The real law firms named in some of these warnings have had strangers trading on the reputation and goodwill they built. The sooner you spot an infringement, the sooner you can have it taken down, and the less damage it can do to your brand. That is what TMH Monitoring does.
Find out where your name stands
We don’t condone the senders of these letters or their tactics, but we know who they pick: established businesses that haven’t registered a trademark. Trademarks are often overlooked by UK brands, yet a registration is the essential tool for getting malicious websites and confusingly similar social media accounts taken down.
We have just seen it work. A copycat law firm website we warned about was taken offline less than a day after we listed it. That is the value of proactive brand protection.
Start with a free search of the UK trademark register. It shows whether similar names are already registered, and a specialist will talk you through what it means for your business.
How you should respond
Whether it is a trademark infringement scam like this one, or another variation, trademark scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
They rely on:
- Publicly available data from the UK IPO
- Professional-looking documents
- Legal terminology that feels credible
For a business owner, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between:
- A genuine legal issue, and
- A misleading or fraudulent communication
Important: do not ignore it
While these letters raise serious concerns, the key point is this:
You should not ignore any legal-style communication.
Even if something looks suspicious, there is always a possibility that:
- A third party is genuinely attempting to register a similar mark
- You may have rights that need protecting
What should you do?
If you receive a letter like this:
- Do not panic
- Do not make any payments or commitments immediately
- Do not ignore it completely
- Get it checked properly
Our advice
Figuring out whether a trademark letter is genuine or a fraud can be difficult.
If you are unsure, speak to someone who deals with this regularly.
If in doubt, call our team and we will be able to give you some guidance.
We can:
- Review the letter
- Check whether any real application exists
- Advise on whether any action is required
Final thought
If something feels off, it usually is.
But in trademark matters, the risk of ignoring something genuine can be just as damaging as responding to something misleading.
Because UK Companies House & the UK Intellectual Property Office are public registers, it is an unfortunate reality that when you register a company or a trademark, scam mail starts to flow in.
One of the many reasons why clients use professional representatives like us deters scammers and here is how.
Email & Social Scams
When you have a representative like us; any trademark related matters should be brought to us. If somebody contacts you directly, then they are not acting properly, however you simply send it to us, and we can tell you if anything needs to be done with it.
Postal Scams
We encourage all our clients to use our Care of Address when registering their trademark. This means all UKIPO comms, notices and scams, come to us. The scams go straight in the shredder and will never darken your door.
Bottom line, we exist to manage this noise so you can focus on your business. You can read more about our Trademark Representation & Protection services by clicking here.
I hope you found this article helpful, as always, if there is anything you want to learn more about in relation to trademarks and marketing, feel free to email us at enquiries@thetrademarkhelpline.com or give us a call, we’re always more than happy to help,
Questions about this
Is a formal legal notice giving 48 hours to respond about a trademark application genuine?
It is worth treating with real caution. Notices of this kind claim an application for your name is about to be filed, set a 48-hour deadline, warn that silence may limit your rights, then offer to file a trademark for you. A UK trademark application only appears on the public register once it has been filed, so it helps to check the register and the sender independently before responding.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOWhat details are worth checking on a legal notice signed by a solicitor?
Check whether the SRA number quoted matches the firm on the SRA register, whether the email domain matches the firm’s genuine website, and whether the named solicitor is actually connected to that firm. Notices of this type have used different SRA numbers, alternative email domains and the names of solicitors who are retired, no longer practising or based abroad. US toll-free numbers and American spellings are further warning signs.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOWhy do some trademark notices use 48-hour deadlines?
Short deadlines create urgency, so the recipient acts before checking whether the claim is real. The pattern is consistent: a warning that another party is about to file, a suggestion that rights may be lost by not responding, then an offer to file an application as the solution. Genuine trademark processes run to published timetables, such as the two-month opposition window after publication, so taking time to verify costs nothing.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEO
