Intellectual property (IP) is a very complex area and covers a vast range of diverse subjects.
[1] As a result, there are opportunities for unscrupulous individuals and organizations to take advantage of those wishing to secure protection for their IP.
[2] A scam increasing in frequency, as of October 2011, is an email originating from a domain name registrar or IT consulting company based in China that purports to notify a trademark holder that another entity is seeking to register the client's trademark or business name as a domain name in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or other Asian countries.
Generally, in the event there really is a third-party who is seeking to register your brand name for nefarious purposes, there are channels available for addressing such uses if and when they materialize.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has issued a warning about several of these services, including:[4] Domain slamming is a form of scam in which an internet service provider (ISP) or domain name registrar attempts to trick customers of different companies into switching from their existing ISP/registrar to the scamming ISP/registrar, under the pretense that the customer is simply renewing their subscription to their old ISP/registrar.