Trademarks, Trade Names and Notaries in Wisconsin
The management and record keeping of the Notary, Trademarks and Trade Names in Wisconsin has transferred from the Secretary of State's Office to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Effective July 2011, the addresses, phone numbers, and URLs have changed.
The new physical location is 345 W Washington, 3rd Fl, Madison WI 53703. The new phone number is 608-266-8915, the fax is 608-264-7965. The home page is now http://www.wdfi.org/.
Both divisions offer online search capabilities at the new URL. Search trademark and trade name information at http://dfi.nmtvault.com/Trademarks.aspx. Search the Notary Public database at http://dfi.nmtvault.com/Notary.aspx.
Driver's License Status Check in Kansas
Kansas recently unveiled a new service that allows one to check the status of a KS issued driver's license. The DL #, full name and DOB are required. The information must be entered as it appears on the driver's license, with no dashes or spaces.
The direct link is: https://www.kdor.org/DLStatus/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fdlstatus%2fsecure%2fdefault.aspx. (Or you can go to home page at www.ksrevenue.org/ and click on the appropriate link.)
Illinois Public Record Searchers
The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation recently issued a "cease and desist" letter to a PRRN (Public Record Retriever Network - www.prrn.us) member based in Illinois for performing public record research and not having a private investigator's license.
The Department interpreted that the act of researching public records is considered to be performing an "investigation." This is regardless if the PRRN Member was merely researching and reporting to a attorney, private investigator, or consumer reporting agency (CRA) what is found in a court's public record docket.
The licensing of Private Investigators is governed by 225 ILCS 447. Article 5 defines, in part, that a private investigator is someone who "...engages in the business of, accepts employment to furnish, or agrees to make or makes investigations for a fee or other consideration..." Articles 10 and 15 list exemptions. See the statute at www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs2.asp?ChapterID=24
Interestingly, similar situations occured several years ago in Arizona and Texas. The states had similar laws to IL. A PRRN members was actually thrown in jail in Texas. But the issues were resolved and the end result is that public record researchers are not required to be licensed as PIs when simply hired by private investigators or Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA) to report facts in the public records.
If this issue is of interest, there is an older, but still applicable article titled "The Trouble With PI Licensing Statutes" written by Carl Ernst, found on the BRB Publications site at www.brbpublications.com/articles.aspx.