Posts Tagged: "legalzoom"

LegalZoom and Washington State Reach Agreement Over Unauthorized Practice of Law

The State of Washington has just entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance with LegalZoom relating to charges that LegalZoom is engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. The Attorney General of the State of Washington initiated an investigation into the business practices of LegalZoom, who offers certain legal forms over the Internet to consumers throughout the United States and including the State of Washington. As a result of this investigation LegalZoom offered and the Attorney General accepted an Assurance of Discontinuance. The Assurance of Discontinuance is not considered a finding of fact or admission of any violation or the commission of any particular act, but the failure to comply with the Assurance of Discontinuance would constitute prima facie evidence of such violations. Notwithstanding the unauthorized practice of law charges, LegalZoom was also investigated for turning over sensitive, privately identifying personal and financial information to third parties.

Patent Office Disciplinary Actions and the Lack Thereof

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what the Office of Enrollment & Discipline has been up to since the start of 2010. To be perfectly honest, I was quite surprised by what I found. Not only is there not a single case involving Rule 11.5, but the overwhelming majority are related to reciprocal proceedings where discipline was already taken by a State and the USPTO is taking appropriate matching action with respect to the practitioner. In fact, out of the 37 disciplinary proceedings this year 24 have been reciprocal proceedings, where the USPTO seems to hand out justice largely or solely based on justice being handed out by some State Bar authority.

Gov. Perry: LegalZoom to Move Up To 600 Jobs to Austin, TX

Gov. Rick Perry today announced the state will invest $1 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) in LegalZoom.com for the relocation of certain office functions from Los Angeles to Austin. This investment will create up to 600 jobs and more than $11.7 million in capital investment.

LegalZoom Sued in Class Action for Unauthorized Law Practice

While the LegalZoom model is one that has a lot of appeal, it seems to me that it is just too difficult to pull off without engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. While many think that lawyers just complain about LegalZoom and others, the truth is that if there is the unauthorized practice of law those who ultimately suffer are the customers/clients.

Bilski Not So Bad for Software Patents After All

Ever since this decision was rendered there has been rampant speculation as to what Bilski means and how it will be interpreted. As one who works in this area and one with my own patent application pending in class 705, I was greatly interested both professionally and personally. Thankfully, I can report that it does not seem as if Bilski is turning out to be the impediment to patentability that many feared. In fact, based on what is going on at the USPTO one could make a convincing argument that it is actually getting easier to obtain patents that related to software and computer related processes.