USPTO Moves to Cancel 10,500 Trademark Filings Tied to Forged Signatures, Phantom Fees, and Double-Billing Schemes

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 12, 2026 published a trademark alert summarising recent administrative actions to remove fraudulent and otherwise invalid marks from the federal trademark register. Through 11 administrative orders issued since October 2025, the agency has either invalidated or is targeting for invalidation around 10,500 trademark applications and registrations. Cited violations include forged attorney signatures, fabricated trademark requirements and fees, and double billing. IPWatchdog reported the alert on May 13.

The orders extend a sustained campaign begun in 2025, when the USPTO sanctioned a foreign filing firm that misused U.S. attorney credentials, submitted fake specimens of use, and signed documents in other people’s names, leading the agency to cancel more than 52,000 fraudulently filed trademark applications and registrations associated with that firm.

Key Administrative Orders

Shenzhen Huanyee IP (Shenzhen, China) was targeted in a January 27, 2026 show cause order citing multiple violations of USPTO rules and USPTO.gov terms of use. A single USPTO.gov account tied to the firm filed more than 4,900 trademark applications in a 14-month window between March 2020 and May 2021, often submitting filings less than three minutes apart. When questioned by the USPTO, several individuals who appeared as signatories declared under penalty of perjury that they were not involved in the relevant filings.

Swift Brand Mark LLC was the subject of a February 25, 2026 order. The firm filed more than 1,600 trademark applications in the names of thousands of geographically diverse trademark owners, but submissions originated from a small, geographically isolated computer network. Although USPTO rules require direct signature entry by the signatory, signatures, including a handwritten one, were found to have been input by respondents rather than the named signatory. None of the USPTO.gov account holders appeared to qualify as attorneys or supervised support staff.

Deputy Trademark faced a March 26, 2026 show cause order tied to 16 USPTO.gov accounts apparently coordinated through a single email address. The firm engaged in double billing and charged for services trademark owners did not need, including unnecessary renewal declarations and continued-use proofs. Like Swift Brand Mark, Deputy Trademark used the direct signature method improperly for over 3,000 applications on behalf of geographically diverse applicants, all routed through a small, isolated network.

Backdrop: A Decade of Anti-Fraud Effort

U.S. trademark filings hit record highs in the early 2020s, driven in large part by surging filings from China. The USPTO has tightened identity verification and authentication for its online platforms over the same period. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a consumer alert in September 2025 warning of scammers impersonating the USPTO.

USPTO Director John Squires has drawn the most public attention for actions at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), but the agency’s trademark anti-fraud enforcement has accelerated in parallel. The 52,000-mark cancellation that preceded his confirmation was an early signal of how aggressively post-issuance scrutiny would be applied to suspicious filings.

Practical Implications for Rights Holders

The actions carry several practical implications for parties seeking U.S. trademark protection. First, engaging an unauthorised filing agent risks not only invalidation of the resulting registrations but also direct financial harm through schemes such as double billing and phantom-fee invoices; correspondence claiming renewal or maintenance fees outside official USPTO channels should be treated as suspect. Second, because U.S. trademark practice requires representation by a U.S.-licensed attorney for foreign-domiciled applicants, foreign rights holders must work through properly qualified U.S. counsel. Third, the heightened post-issuance review by the USPTO means rights holders should continue to monitor and maintain registrations with care after they issue, including timely and properly supported specimens of use.

The USPTO has made the full text of each administrative order and the underlying trademark alert publicly available through its trademark alert page and subscription channels.