Brent Arnold appeared on the Modern Law podcast to address a troubling rise in trademark-related scams targeting Canadian businesses. Fraudsters are impersonating intellectual property lawyers, sending convincing but fake correspondence to pressure companies into paying unnecessary or fraudulent fees. Arnold highlighted how this growing problem exploits publicly available trademark info and preys mostly on businesses without in-house legal teams.
He explained how these scams leverage sophisticated tactics such as fabricating infringement claims, impersonating real law firms, and using official-seeming documents to create a false sense of urgency. Brent also discussed the additional threats posed by AI-generated content, which can make phishing and impersonation even more convincing. His advice to businesses is to verify every communication carefully and to work with known trusted legal counsel when dealing with trademark matters.
Listen to the full episode here:
