Over the years, we have reported on a growing number of trademark scams targeting UK businesses.

One that continues to circulate heavily is the OMPS trademark letter scam.

Unlike some of the more aggressive “legal notice” style scams we have written about previously, the OMPS letter is designed to look more like an official publication or directory invoice connected to your trademark application.

At first glance, it can appear genuine.

The layout looks professional. It references your trademark details correctly. It includes your trademark number, filing date and classes. The design itself even resembles official Companies House style correspondence. For a busy business owner, it can easily look like a legitimate invoice connected to the UK Intellectual Property Office.

Unfortunately, that is exactly the point.

We still regularly receive these letters for clients, even when we act as their representative and use our care of address service. They essentially throw mud at the wall and see what sticks and, given this scam has been circulating for years, people are unfortunately still paying it.

The OMPS Letter

One of the latest examples we received can be seen below. Client information has been removed for privacy reasons.

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This is how the original letter appears (client information has been redacted for privacy)

The letter references:

• A real UK trademark application number
• The correct filing date
• The relevant trademark classes
• A “publication fee” of £985

It also uses wording such as:

“Trademark Publication” and references publication services designed to increase the visibility of your trademark.

To somebody unfamiliar with the trademark process, it can easily appear to be:

• An official publication requirement
• A mandatory trademark fee
• A UKIPO connected service
• Or something legally important that requires immediate payment

This is where many business owners get caught out.

What is actually happening?

The important thing to understand is this:

This is not an official EU or UKIPO fee, the UKIPO does not issue invoices like this for “publication fees” after your application has been filed.

Instead, these letters are generally offering inclusion within a private commercial database or publication service which most businesses neither need nor realise they are signing up for.

In our experience, the £985 fee delivers little to no meaningful value to businesses. It is our understanding that payments are routed to a Swiss company and, once paid, the money is generally unrecoverable.

The small print is usually where the real detail sits.

Buried within the wording are important disclaimers such as:

• “Not related to the publication of official trademark registrations”
• “Not a registration with any governmental organization”
• “Binding contract for a one-year period”

The problem is that many business owners understandably lack the time to read every line of small print when the overall presentation strongly resembles an official trademark notice.

Why are you receiving these letters?

Because trademark registers are public.

Once a trademark application is filed, certain information becomes publicly accessible, including:

• Trademark numbers
• Applicant names
• Filing dates
• Correspondence details
• Goods and services classes

Scam operators monitor these registers constantly.

Once your trademark reaches certain stages, particularly publication, they send letters designed to appear connected to the process.

This is one of the reasons why many businesses choose to use professional representatives and care of address services.

How to spot a trademark scam letter

While scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, there are usually warning signs.

1. It looks official

These letters are specifically designed to imitate official correspondence.

In this example:

• It references a genuine trademark application number
• The formatting resembles Companies House style documents
• It includes real filing dates and classes
• It uses formal trademark terminology

For somebody unfamiliar with trademark procedure, it can appear entirely legitimate.

2. The fees are unusually high

In this example, the requested fee was £985 for a publication service most businesses would never intentionally purchase.

3. The small print tells a very different story

The key wording is often buried lower down the document:

• “Private database”
• “Not affiliated with government”
• “Advertising service”
• “One year contract”

4. The timing is deliberate

These letters often arrive shortly after publication because businesses are already expecting trademark related correspondence.

That timing is not accidental.

Important: do not ignore trademark correspondence entirely

This is extremely important.

Even though letters like this raise concerns, you should never simply ignore all trademark related correspondence.

Sometimes there are genuine:

• oppositions
• examination issues
• deadlines
• legal disputes
• third party conflicts

The difficulty for many SME business owners is knowing which letters matter and which do not.

That problem is becoming even harder as AI allows scams to become more convincing and professional looking.

This is one of the reasons businesses use representatives

A large part of our role is simply helping clients filter the noise.

When clients use our care of address and representation service:

• Trademark related correspondence comes through us first
• Scam letters are identified quickly
• Misleading notices are filtered out
• Genuine issues are escalated properly
• Clients avoid unnecessary panic and distraction

In reality, most business owners should not be spending time trying to work out whether every trademark letter is genuine.

That is part of what professional representation is there for.

And yes, even with our care of address service in place, these scam letters still arrive for clients from time to time. The difference is they normally go straight in the shredder before the client ever has to worry about them.

What should you do if you receive one?

If you receive an OMPS Scam letter or any similar trademark scam communication:

• Do not panic
• Do not make immediate payment
• Do not sign anything
• Do not ignore it completely
• Get it checked properly

If in doubt, send it to somebody who deals with trademarks every day.

Final thought

Unfortunately, trademark scams are now part of the reality of operating on public registers.

The combination of:

• public data
• AI generated communications
• legal sounding wording
• convincing branding
• professional looking designs

means these scams are becoming harder for ordinary businesses to identify.

That is exactly why experienced representation matters.

If you receive a trademark letter and are unsure whether it is genuine, feel free to contact our team and we will happily take a quick look and point you in the right direction.

As always, we are more than happy to help.