The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues its work to purge the trademark register of fraudulent and invalid filings. Last fiscal year, the USPTO sanctioned several foreign filing firms and removed over 52,000 invalid applications and registrations. In the past six months, the agency continued its anti-fraud efforts, issuing 11 administrative orders targeting the removal of around 10,500 trademark applications and registrations.  

The Trademarks Register Protection Office enforces the rules of practice, including those on certifications and signatures, along with terms of use and verified account agreements, against attempts to circumvent them. The orders issued this year address violations including filing firms engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, trademark documents with improper signatures, and applications filed with false information. Several orders also address filing firm tactics like impersonating the USPTO and inventing non-existent trademark registration requirements and filing fees.  

You can read the administrative orders in the Trademark Decisions and Proceedings database.