Last week I wrote about “do-it-yourself” trademark services like Trademarkia and LegalZoom.  There are many reasons why it does not make sense to use one of these services.  They exist to undercut actual trademark attorneys (they are not a law firm).  However, they do not provide any of the value of a real trademark attorney.  I’ve already stated my case against them.  And, as it turns out, so have many of their previous customers.  Let’s take a look at what these customers had to say with their Trademarkia reviews.

For transparency, these reviews are taken from Trademarkia’s Facebook page as it appears on November 7, 2016.  These are the last five Trademarkia reviews left on their page (from newest to oldest) as I write this.

UPDATE (4/15/17): Trademarkia has removed the option to leave reviews from their Facebook page.  As a result (of course), you can no longer access these reviews.  I’m guessing that this would not have happened if the reviews were more positive, but then again what would you expect?  At least you can still see what people had to say about their experiences here:

Charging to Abandon an Application? Really?

Also similar to another reviewer, had a negative experience. Another company challenged my trademark (even though no one had filed for it), and so they asked if I wanted to abandon the trademark filing – I said that would be fine – they wanted another $500 to do that. Will not use again. (1-star out of 5)

It sounds like this person’s trademark application was opposed, which can be very costly to defend against.  And Trademarkia is not a law firm and cannot represent you in an opposition.  So while choosing not to defend the opposition makes sense… why would Trademarkia charge him $500 to abandon his trademark application?  Doing nothing would eventually lead to the same result.  Why would Trademarkia need an additional $500 to get there?

Costs Are a Moving Target

When I first started to file my trademark with them, their customer support told me it’s gonna cost about $599 now they charged me about $800 and still asking for more. If I don’t pay more money I will not get my trademark filed!!!
Their customer support told me if you won’t pay go do it yourself!!!

Not recommended at all!!! (1-star out of 5)

This is just poor customer service.  The irony here is that many people are afraid to hire an attorney because they are worried about hidden fees.  But this Trademarkia review seems to indicate that that’s what you may end up with if you hire them to do your trademark work.  I do most of my work on a flat-fee basis, and let you know about potential additional costs up front.

Months To File an Application? Uh-oh.

Very very bad service.. It’s been 7 weeks now, they haven’t filed my trademark. No one takes any action or responsibility or accountability. Please stay away from this. (1-star out of 5)

Seven weeks to file a trademark application???  In the legal world, we have a word for this: “malpractice.”  But since Trademarkia is not a law firm, they can just chalk it up to bad customer service.  Instead of filing a complaint with the Bar Association, your only recourse really is leaving a negative Trademarkia review on Facebook.  That’s just sad.

They are crooks. They kept charging me when I did not give permission to proceed and still did not produce a tradematk [sic]. When I tried to call regarding the threats of payment or they would send to collections no one would speak to me. Do not use this company. (1-star out of 5)

Yikes!  One thing that scares me about this is that they seemed to have set up a recurring payment for a trademark application.  Why in the world would that be necessary?  Just reading these reviews is starting to make me upset.

Broken Forms

I thought this was a competent company until I went to enter Israel as another country that I previously registered the trademark in.

Then I realized that they decided to rewrite the world map erasing Israel and putting Palestine and the West Bank of Jordan in its place.

No competent business would make such an arrogant and offensive move to wipe one country off the map and put an unrecognized state in its place.

If they are more interested in making a political statement they will not be getting my business.
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Two weeks later trademarkia has added Israel back onto the map and Israel is now a country in the middle east!

So I guess they are ok in my book although it is very curious how they made such a mistake in the first place and why the West Bank Palestine is listed as a country as pertaining to trademarks there is no way to register a trademark only in the west bank of Jordan. (3-stars out of 5)