LegalMatch sued for deceptive Web advertising

March 5, 2006

LegalMatch, a lawyer & client Internet matchmaking service, is being sued for deceptive Web advertising by Pine Tree Legal Assistance, a Maine nonprofit that provides legal services to the poor.

Allegations in the suit as reported by the Portland Press Herald include:

LegalMatch’s advertisements appear when a computer user types “Pine Tree Legal Assistance” into Web search engines including Yahoo!, AltaVista, MSN, Lycos, InfoSpace and Hotbot.
The advertisements read “Find Pine Tree Legal Assistance Services” and take users to LegalMatch’s Web site, which the ads claim are a “free, easy, confidential service to find a pre-screened lawyer in your area.”
While Pine Tree Legal provides free legal services to low-income people in Maine, LegalMatch’s services come with a fee.
LegalMatch.com bought from the search engines “keyword” advertising triggered by the words “Pine Tree Legal” or “Pine Tree Legal Assistance.” Because of that, LegalMatch has unlawfully used the nonprofit’s trademarked property, the suit claimed.
LegalMatch has purchased the infringing LegalMatch ads as an attempt to siphon off Web traffic looking for services under the (Pine Tree Legal Assistance trademarks) and to purposefully confuse consumers into believing that there is an affiliation between LegalMatch and Pine Tree Legal Assistance.

Picture 1.png I found LegalMatch does the same thing at Google today. Here’s their sponsored link when you do a search for Pine Tree Legal Assistance.

This is not the first time LegalMatch has been the subject of what in my opinion are shady practices. Lawyers have accused the company of overly aggressive sales tactics with the results not being as promised. Then their CEO got indicted for breaking into the voicemail system of a competitor. Now trying to allegedly deceive low income people looking for free legal services. This is too much.

Hugh Calkins, head of Pinetree, is a heck of a nice guy. He wouldn’t sue LegalMatch lightly. Here’s Hugh’s comments in the Press Herald:

The case is about people trying to mislead our client population to commercial Web sites that they can’t afford. Many of our clients, certainly not all of them, are particularly vulnerable to being misled and being subjected to scams.

Lawyers can do something about LegalMatch. When they call you, strongly consider turning the other way.

Source of post: Robert Ambrog’s LawSites

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