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.
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.
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.
It is unbelievable to me that the United States Patent and Trademark Office allows LegalZoom.com to continue in what can only be described, at least in my opinion, as the unauthorized practice of law. It is perhaps even more unbelievable that the various State Attorneys General appear unwilling to stop what I believe to be widespread unauthorized practice of law, despite the…
Today you can hardly do a search on any search engine on the topic patents or trademarks without stumbling across an ad from LegalZoom.com, or one of the other numerous companies that promise to prepare and file patent or trademark applications on your behalf. On September 15, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office issued new rules that should have…
Those who regularly read IPWatchdog.com may remember that on August 25, 2008, I wrote that the United States Patent & Trademark Office had finally, once and for all put an end to invention scams thanks to the fact that they had adopted new rules that would significantly impact who can engage in the representation of clients before the USPTO on…
As I have previously discussed in several posts (see PTO Kills Invention Promotion and Patent Self-Help Now More Difficult), on August 14, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office profoundly changed the rules that govern what patent attorneys and patent agents may do when working with independent inventors who are seeking advice but not full representation. In a nutshell,…
UPDATE: See Sadly, Invention Promotion Alive & Well The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced that it is adopting new rules relating to a variety of issues that impact who can engage in representation of clients before the PTO, both on the patent and the trademark side of the Office. These new rules, which will go into effect…
It is not at all uncommon for inventors to want to attempt to draft and file patent applications on their own. This is in no small part due to the fact that if an independent inventor goes to a patent attorney the attorney will typically require somewhere from $5,000 to $10,000 up front prior to commencing representation. This is a…