IPONZ has recently heard from several businesses about unsolicited emails from an entity calling itself ‘NRH Legal Services’. 

This email advises recipients that a third party has enquired about registering their business name as a trade mark. The email then urges the recipient to respond and secure their IP rights before the third-party filing proceeds.

If you have received this email, or any other communication about your IP protection from an unsolicited source, please treat this with extreme caution. This is especially important if the email is pressuring you to respond quickly, or take any other action.

These messages may claim to represent an official organisation or a legitimate business. This does not guarantee that the message is authentic.

If you have any doubts about a communication you have received, you can contact IPONZ via email to mail@iponz.govt.nz or your IP professional to verify its authenticity.

If you receive a message from someone who refers to themselves as an attorney or an IP professional, you can also verify their contact details with the following independent sources:

Member patent attorney firms — New Zealand Intellectual Property Attorneys

Register of patent attorneys and firms — Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board

Find a lawyer — The New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa

The Consumer Protection website also provides information on how to recognise, avoid and report scams from unsolicited communications.

Scamwatch — Consumer Protection