Clients have received unsolicited official-looking mail notifications offering to register their trademarks with various international registries or to have additional trademark protection work done by the soliciting company. The notices often require the trademark holder to pay thousands of dollars for the promised services. As set forth in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Wednesday, January 20th, two individuals in Los Angeles, Artashes Darbinyan and Orbel Hakobyan doing business as Trademark Compliance Center and Trademark Compliance Office, were indicted for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in addition to other related crimes.
The sophistication of these frauds is outlined in detail in the indictment including use of call-answering and mail-forwarding services in multiple cities in California and the Washington,D.C. metro area; setting up these accounts under false names; setting up banking accounts under false names with at least one account transferring funds to a gold dealer, and use of VoIP phone lines which are harder to detect. The indictment is seeking forfeiture of at least $1,850,000 of illegal proceeds in addition to other penalties.
If you receive these types of unsolicited offers and before signing up for such trademark protection services or a listing in a trademark directory, please contact SAM’s trademark and copyright attorneys (818) 444-4500 or .
