As many of you already know from my website (see chart here and the second section here), as well as any conversations about trademarks you may have had the pleasure of sharing with me, I strongly dislike LegalZoom, the online legal document preparation service founded by O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro. Although not a law firm, LegalZoom “assists” (and I use that term very loosely) people in preparing a wide range of legal documents, including wills, trusts, divorce petitions, incorporation forms, and much to my irritation, trademark applications. The following anecdote is just one of many reasons why using LegalZoom for trademark matters (and really all other matters listed above) is not a wise investment of money.
I recently received a call from someone who wanted to file a federal trademark application to register a mark he was intending to use in connection with his start-up business. Of course, I advised him that we should at least perform a federal trademark registration search prior to filing the application so that we know whether anybody owns a federal registration for an identical or confusingly similar trademark. Much to my surprise, he informed me that he had already paid LegalZoom $299 to conduct a comprehensive trademark search. Only problem was that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
When I met with him a couple of days later, he handed me two large books labeled “LegalZoom Comprehensive Trademark Search Report.” By the looks of it, the search certainly appeared “comprehensive.” LegalZoom had conducted federal, state, and common law trademark searches, as well as a corporate name search, fictitious name search, and domain name search. All together, the search report was a whopping 1273 pages! Since he shelled out $299 for the search, that came to less than $.24 per page of valuable and insightful information! Unbelievable value, right?
Wrong. In reviewing the search report, it quickly became clear that it was merely a collection of data that 99.9% of the population would find incomprehensible. It was filled with numbers, dates, and legal references that only a trademark law practitioner could possibly understand. Yep, that “comprehensive trademark search report” was certainly chock-full of information. Too bad my client didn’t have a law degree, a few years experience practicing trademark law, and about a month to actually read the search report.
I think everyone reading this understands that LegalZoom’s “comprehensive” trademark search report was missing two essential pieces of information: (1) an interpretation of the search results, and (2) a recommendation as to whether the trademark being searched is available for use in connection with my client’s new business. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t realize that LegalZoom cannot provide such information. Why? Because LegalZoom is not a law firm and, therefore, cannot dispense legal advice. To be sure, LegalZoom cannot advise their customers whether their trademarks infringe upon another previously used and/or registered trademark. All LegalZoom can do is compile 1273 pages of data, tell their customers that the search is “comprehensive” to make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and pocket $299 each time one is ordered, leaving their customers to figure out what to do with the voluminous search report other than to curl it like a dumbbell.
Since it would have cost my client substantially more for me to actually review the entire LegalZoom search report rather than to conduct a brand new federal and state trademark search myself, I told him I would gladly do my part for the environment by recycling the LegalZoom search report and issuing him a new search report based on my own research, which he happily accepted. Of course, since I usually charge around $300 for this type of search and my report is generally 2 pages in length, I hope he doesn’t mind paying $150 per page rather than 24 cents. Hey, I have very high-quality letterhead!
Anyway, I plan on posting another entry about the evils of LegalZoom sometime next week. If any of you have any experience using LegalZoom and want to share your stories, please feel free to post a comment or send me an email.
