Pine Tree Legal sues California company over Internet ads
PORTLAND, Maine --Pine Tree Legal Assistance, a nonprofit that provides legal services for Maine's poor, is suing over what it claims are deceptive Internet ads.
According to its lawsuit, advertisements from California-based LegalMatch Corp. appear when a computer user types "Pine Tree Legal Assistance" into Web search engines including
The advertisements read "Find Pine Tree Legal Assistance Services" and take users to LegalMatch's Web site. Unlike Pine Tree Legal, which provides free services, LegalMatch's services come with a fee, according to the lawsuit.
"The case is about people trying to mislead our client population to commercial Web sites that they can't afford," said Pine Tree Legal's Hugh Calkins.
Bernstein Shur, a Portland-based law firm, filed the suit on Feb. 28 in U.S. District Court on behalf of Pine Tree Legal. Bernstein Shur and another law firm based in Minneapolis are representing Pine Tree pro bono.
According to the suit, 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.
Calls to LegalMatch.com in San Francisco were not returned.
