In 2005, Pine Tree Legal Assistance received a phone call from a client who asked why they were selling divorce forms on their website. Through this conversation PTLA learned the client had gone to www.pinetreelegal.com not the actual Pine Tree site, www.ptla.org. PTLA staff also discovered that not only did the website use the organization’s name, but that the site also had reviewed the content on PTLA’s site. The “fake site” contained links with the same topics as PTLA’s site. However, these links took users to websites that sell interactive divorce forms, eviction packets as well as lawyer referral services, and child support collection services.

In March 2006, Pine Tree Legal Assistance (PTLA) sued the San Francisco business in federal court in Portland, Maine alleging trademark infringement, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and false advertisement. PTLA is represented pro bono by two firms: Bernstein Shur, Sawyer and Nelson in Portland Maine and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, a Minneapolis-based firm. On April 3, 2006, PTLA and LegalMatch settled the lawsuit amicably. LegalMatch agreed, as part of this settlement, to work with major search engines to exclude the term “legal aid” in any advertising, as well as the specific names of any nonprofit legal services program names.

The LegalMatch settlement was a critical step in beginning to resolve deceptive ad-words. Unfortunately there are other companies utilizing the term “legal aid” and legal aid organization names in online advertising. Often these are national companies and therefore a nationally organized strategy is needed to address this issue in an effective way that benefits legal aid programs across the country.

For details of the LegalMatch settlement see the full press release on the PTLA website. PDF copies of the complaint and settlement are attached below.

Robert Ambrogi's covered the LegalMatch case in his LawSites blog: March 4, 2006, April 3, 2006, April 4, 2006.