As we heard last week, online legal services company LegalZoom slapped rival Rocket Lawyer with a lawsuit over false and misleading advertising, trademark infringement and unfair competition. Now Rocket Lawyer is fighting back, saying that LegalZoom is attempting to derail a competitor using frivolous legal tactics.
For background, LegalZoom offers documents and subscription services to make it easier for individuals and businesses to accomplish basic legal tasks. Rocket Lawyer also provides legal documents to consumers and small businesses, and offers these documents for free.
The company says that LegalZoom’s lawsuit is timed at a time when Rocket Lawyer is growing rapidly, and by some measures, is overtaking LegalZoom in terms of site visits. Rocket lawyer also just launched in the UK today. The company says it will “vigorously defend itself against LegalZoom’s false accusations and continue to champion free legal information, free legal documents and affordable access to attorneys.”
Founder Charley Moore tells us the legal action is an “example of a competitive tactic on LegalZoom’s part to file a lawsuit rather than compete on actual product and experiences for consumers.” He adds, “It would better for LegalZoom to spend their time making the law more accessible for people. This is a waste of resources for both companies.”
Among other things, LegalZoom is claiming that Rocket Lawyer’s advertising is false and misleading over the latter company’s free offerings. Moore says that the company’s free documents are not misleading and have been used by hundreds of thousands of users without issue.
Moore says that Rocket Lawyer will respond to LegalZoom’s suit in due time. Company rivalries can be intense and clearly this one is getting nasty.
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