zlien is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that empowers a fair payment process in the construction industry through management of lien waivers exchanges, preliminary notices, and mechanics lien compliance.
In April 2016, the startup filed a suit against Nationwide Notice arguing that Nationwide plagiarized website content from zlien.com. According to zlien, the complaint alleges that Nationwide Notice copied educational content from the website, where it is made available to the public at no cost, and displayed the information on their own website behind a paywall.
“Other construction notice companies, are looking to zlien because zlien is the authority. Our team deeply understands lien rights and the lien landscape,” says zlien CEO Scott Wolfe, Jr.
This alleged copyright infringement goes against zlien’s mission to empower a transparent and fair construction payment process. “At zlien, we believe that access to information on lien law should be available to everyone,” says Wolfe, “not behind a paywall.”
Wolfe noted that this is not the first time his company has been forced to defend its intellectual property rights in the construction industry. zlien has had suits, which were all settled in court, against National Association of Credit Management (NACM), SunRay Notice, and RoHillCo under similar circumstances.
The latest litigation is captioned Express Lien, Inc. v. Nationwide Notice, Inc. et al. and was filed on April 8, 2016, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.