Updated 14 October 2026: we have added Cohen Klein & Associates, which sends the same renewal letter, and what Companies House shows about both names.
A Cohen Klein renewal letter arrived this month, from a firm called Cohen Klein & Associates. It quoted the owner’s real registration number, the real expiry date and the real class, offered to renew the mark for £1,290 plus VAT, and asked for the form to be signed and emailed back.
We had seen it before. Not the name, but the letter: the layout, the wording, the tick boxes and even the reference number format match the Stern Young & Partners letter we first wrote about on this page. So we looked at who is behind each name.
Companies House lists the same person as sole director and owner of Cohen Klein & Associates Ltd and of Stern Young & Partners IP Ltd. We think these are one operation using two names, so we have brought both into this page.
Is the Stern Young & Partners and Cohen Klein letter a scam?
Not in the way a fake invoice is. As far as we can tell, if you sign and pay, a renewal does get filed. Nothing in the letter is invented: the trademark details come from the public register.
What we object to is the method. The letters go to trademark owners who have no representative on the register, they are timed to the opening of the renewal window, and they are written to look like the next step in an official process. The price is several times the official fee, bundled with services the owner did not ask for.
And it works. Other trademark firms and trade bodies have been warning about these letters since 2019, they are still arriving in 2026, and from our own searches of the register, Stern Young & Partners is the representative on record for a good number of UK trademarks. Plenty of owners sign.
Is a renewal reminder from a private firm a bad thing?
Not on its own. We write to trademark owners about their renewals too, and we say so openly. It is often useful: the IPO sends its reminder to the address on the register, and a business that has moved since it filed, without updating the IPO, may never receive it. A letter from someone else can be the only warning an owner gets.
The difference is what happens next. We do not charge anything like these prices, and we do not send a form to sign. We advise a review before every renewal, because ten years is a long time in a business: the owner, the logo or what you sell may have changed, and renewal is the cheapest moment to put that right. Our trademark renewals guide explains why, and what a renewal should cost.
What does the Cohen Klein renewal letter say?
Both are headed “Dear trademark holder”, both say “Our records show that your trademark is about to expire”, both give a date on which “the renewal process starts”, both set out the mark, its expiry date, its registration number and its class in a three-column table, and both ask the owner to tick “Renew” or “Let the trademark lapse” and email the signed form back.
| Stern Young & Partners | Cohen Klein & Associates | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample we hold | renewal starting 31 Jan 2024 | renewal starting 28 Dec 2026 |
| Price | £1,320 plus VAT | £1,290 plus VAT |
| What the price covers | renewal and “all applicable filing fees” | renewal, “10 years of trademark monitoring”, “assistance in the event of infringement” and filing fees |
| Reference format | 32500 / 584 | 32500A / 1087 |
| Second tick box | “Let the trademark lapse / Use another agent” | “Let the trademark lapse / Use another representative” |
| Reply to | renewals@sternyoung.com | renewals@cohenklein.com |
| Timing | six months before expiry | six months before expiry |
Six months before expiry is the earliest date the UKIPO accepts a renewal. Both letters arrive ahead of it, so they are often the first renewal communication an owner sees.
Both letters, with the recipients’ details redacted, are shown side by side further down this page.
Who is behind each name?
Cohen Klein & Associates Ltd is a UK company, number 12947266, registered at 7 Bell Yard, London. Companies House shows it was incorporated in October 2020 under another name, Direct Brand Establishment Ltd, with a different director. Its current sole director and owner was appointed on 1 December 2023, and it took the name Cohen Klein & Associates in May 2024. The domain cohenklein.com was registered on 29 November 2023, two days before that appointment. The company also has a valid Dutch VAT number, and its letter gives an office in Venlo in the Netherlands.
Stern Young & Partners trades from sternyoung.com, a domain registered on 14 December 2018. Two UK companies carry the name. Stern Young & Partners Ltd (11726674) was incorporated the same day the domain was registered, with a different sole director. Stern Young & Partners IP Ltd (17074208) was incorporated on 6 March 2026.
The link. Companies House lists the same person, with the same name, month and year of birth, nationality and country of residence, as sole director and person with significant control of both Cohen Klein & Associates Ltd and Stern Young & Partners IP Ltd. The correspondence address on his Cohen Klein appointment is the registered office of Stern Young & Partners IP Ltd.
What does not add up?
The accounts say the company does nothing. Cohen Klein & Associates Ltd has filed dormant accounts for every year since it was formed, most recently for the year to 31 October 2025. A dormant company is one with no significant transactions. In the same period its website says it has “expanded further afield, adding Australia and Singapore”, it holds a Dutch VAT registration, and it is sending priced renewal offers to UK trademark owners.
Companies House has had to chase it. The company has received a first notice of compulsory strike-off three times, in May 2025, September 2025 and September 2026, each withdrawn once overdue filings were made. In March 2025 Companies House replaced its registered office, and its director’s service address, with the Companies House default address in Cardiff. The company gave 7 Bell Yard as its address in July 2025.
The phone number on the letter is a mobile. The letter gives a UK number beginning 07476. The website gives a London 020 number.
The Stern Young website has not changed since 2018. It still shows “© 2018” and an address at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, which Stern Young & Partners Ltd left in 2024. That address is a mail-forwarding address shared by tens of thousands of companies.
The form offers two choices, and one of them is to let the mark lapse. The tick boxes are “Renew” or “Let the trademark lapse / Use another representative”. Renewing yourself, directly with the UKIPO, is not one of the options shown.
The reviews. Stern Young & Partners has a Trustpilot score of 1.4 from 40 reviews, 95% of them one star, most describing unsolicited renewal letters and fees far above the official cost. Cohen Klein has only four reviews.
How much does a Stern Young or Cohen Klein renewal cost?
The UKIPO charges £245 to renew a UK trademark online in one class, with £60 for each extra class. The Cohen Klein letter, for a mark in one class, asks for £1,290 plus VAT, or £1,548 in total. Its website lists £1,810 plus VAT for four to six classes. The Stern Young letter we hold asked £1,320 plus VAT for a two-class mark, against an official fee today of £305.
The difference is mostly the bundled “10 years of trademark monitoring” and “assistance in the event of infringement”, which the owner did not ask for and cannot decline on the form. A representative charging a fair fee for a straightforward renewal costs a fraction of this.
What have others said?
We are not the first to raise this.
- In June 2019 Blake Morgan published a Stern Young & Partners letter asking £2,790 plus VAT to renew a six-class mark, against an official fee of £450 at the time.
- In July and October 2019 CITMA, the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, warned rights holders about Stern Young & Partners renewal letters, and said it had supported a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, which was informally resolved.
- In September 2020 Wilson Gunn advised its clients to ignore the letters.
- In February 2025 Svensk Handel, the Swedish trade federation, added Cohen Klein & Associates to its warning list of businesses sending offers that can be mistaken for invoices.
- In September 2026 the Benelux firm Office Freylinger warned about Cohen Klein & Associates renewal letters sent to Benelux trademark owners, and said the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property was looking into it.
Why do these letters work?
Because the risk they describe is real. If a trademark is not renewed, the registration lapses. A letter that says “your trademark is about to expire”, quotes the right number and the right date, and gives a simple tick box is easy to sign on a busy day.
They also choose their targets. Every owner of a UK trademark is on a public register, along with whether they have a representative. An owner with a representative gets reminders from that representative. An owner without one, often a small business that filed its own application ten years ago, may not remember the renewal date at all. Those are the owners these letters reach.
Why are you being targeted?
Renewal letters like this go to businesses that already own a trademark. The trademark register is public, so anyone can see when your trademark is due for renewal and where to write to you. From the ones forwarded to us, they pick owners who:
- have a renewal coming up
- have no representative named on the register
- have their own business address listed for correspondence
The letter is laid out to look like an official reminder, but it asks for several times the official fee.
What a renewal actually costs
The UKIPO’s own fee to renew a UK trademark is £245 for another ten years, for one class, plus £60 for each extra class. You can renew it yourself on GOV.UK up to six months before the renewal date, or see how we handle renewals.
Why a representative is worth having
These letters don’t stop once you are registered, or once you have renewed. That is one of the many reasons owners appoint a representative and use a Care of Address for correspondence: official post about your trademark comes to us rather than to you, and so do most letters like this. We screen out the noise, so you only deal with the genuine matters that need your attention. Representation starts at just £14 a month.
A representative also keeps track of your renewal dates, keeps your details on the register up to date, and checks that your trademark still covers what you sell today before you pay for another ten years.
Put a shield between you and the noise
We don’t condone the senders of these letters or their tactics, but we know who they pick: owners with a renewal due and no representative on the register. Before you pay anyone, check your renewal date and the official fee, or forward the letter to us and we’ll tell you what it is.
What should you do if you get one?
- Check the date yourself. The UKIPO’s trademark search shows your expiry date, and the UKIPO sends its own reminder.
- Know the official fee. £245 online for one class, £60 for each additional class. You can renew directly without any representative.
- Read what you are signing. Both letters say that signing means you agree to terms “on the front and back of this document” and authorise the firm to act for you.
- Review before you renew. Check the owner, address, classes and logo on the record still match the business. If you would like a representative to handle it, ask two or three for a price.
- Report it. The IPO collects misleading letters at misleadinginvoices@ipo.gov.uk and publishes guidance on misleading payment requests. If you have paid and feel misled, contact Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) on 0300 123 2040.
- Send it to us. Call 0161 833 5400 or forward the letter, and we will tell you when your renewal is due and what it should cost. No charge, no obligation.
How do you stop these letters arriving?
Put a representative on your record. Our Care of Address service puts our address on your trademark record instead of yours, so letters like these come to us, not to you, and we tell you which ones matter. If you would like us to handle your renewal, our renewals page sets out the official fees, the timeline and how we do it, and we confirm our own fee in your quote before we start.
The same tactics, targeting owners through the public register, run through our warnings on OMPS and VPS. Our guide on how to spot trademark scams before they cost you covers it in full, and the complete directory is at trademark scams.
The two letters side by side
Recipients’ names, addresses and registration numbers are redacted. Everything else is as sent.
Read the Cohen Klein letter as text
Dear trademark holder,
[REGISTRATION NUMBER] (registered in the United Kingdom)
Our records show that your trademark is about to expire. The renewal process starts on 28 December 2026.Please sign, scan and return this document to us if you would like us to renew the trademark listed below on your behalf. Please also enter the correct details below if any changes need to be recorded in the official registers.
Trademark description: [MARK]. Valid until: 28/06/2027. Registration number: [REDACTED]. Class: 36. Word mark.
Address: [REDACTED]. Address changes: [blank]By signing this document, you agree to comply with the terms and conditions set out on the front and back of this document. You also authorise Cohen Klein & Associates to renew the above-mentioned trademark on your behalf. You will receive a confirmation once the renewal has been completed. Please note that your exclusive trademark rights may lapse if the trademark is not renewed in time.
The trademark listed in this document will be renewed for a further period of 10 years. The total fee for the renewal is £1,290.00, covering the renewal, 10 years of trademark monitoring, assistance in the event of infringement and all filing fees (excluding VAT). Upon receipt of the signed document by e-mail, we will send you an invoice. Once payment has been received and processed, the renewal will be completed within the time limits set by the UKIPO.
Yours sincerely,
Cohen Klein & Associates1. Please tick if you would like us to renew your trademark: Renew / Let the trademark lapse / Use another representative
2. Please scan and send the signed form to renewals@cohenklein.com
Read the Stern Young & Partners letter as text
Dear trademark holder,
[REGISTRATION NUMBER] (registered in the United Kingdom)
Our records show that your trademark is about to expire. Renewal process starts: [DATE]. Please sign, scan and return this document if you wish us to renew the below stated trademark. Please enter the correct address details below if there have been any changes that you wish to be entered in the official records.Trademark description: [MARK]. Valid until: [DATE]. Registration nr: [REDACTED]. Classes: [CLASSES].
Address: [REDACTED]. Address changes: [blank]By signing this document you agree to comply with the terms and conditions stated on the front and the back of this document. You also authorise Stern Young & Partners to renew the above-stated trademark on your behalf. You will receive a confirmation from us once the trademark renewal is completed. Please note that your exclusive trademark rights may be cancelled, if not renewed in time.
The trademark stated in this document will be renewed for another 10-year period. The total fee for the renewal is £1 320 including all applicable filing fees excluding VAT. As soon as the signed document has been emailed to us an invoice will be sent to you. Once the payment has been received and processed by us, the renewal process will start.
Yours faithfully,
Stern Young & Partners1. Please tick, if you wish us to renew your trademark: Renew / Let the trademark lapse / Use another agent
2. Scan and send signed form to renewals@sternyoung.com
Have we contacted them?
We have not contacted Cohen Klein & Associates or Stern Young & Partners for this update. If either would like to respond, we will publish the response in full.
Questions about this
Are Cohen Klein & Associates and Stern Young & Partners the same company?
They are two different companies, but Companies House lists the same person as sole director and owner of Cohen Klein & Associates Ltd and of Stern Young & Partners IP Ltd, and their renewal letters use the same layout, wording, timing and reference number format. We think they are one operation trading under two names.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOIs a trademark renewal letter from a private firm an official UKIPO notice?
No. Private firms can write to any trademark owner, because the register is public. A letter that quotes your correct registration number and expiry date is not official because of that. You can renew directly with the UKIPO, or through any representative you choose.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEOHow much does it cost to renew a UK trademark?
The UKIPO charges £245 to renew online in one class, plus £60 for each additional class. A representative will add a fee for handling it. Letters offering renewal for more than £1,000 usually bundle in other services, such as monitoring, that you may not need.
Answered by Jonathan Paton, Founder & CEO
