How GFO Began
I’m a Florida lawyer (www.JamesMartinPA.com), and I’ve been forming corporations and other entities for years. I also do litigation so I sometimes sue corporations, LLCs, and other entities. I also write contracts, including loan documents that require UCC financing statements to be searched and filed. When you sue a corporation, you need to know its legal name as well as the names of its officers and registered agent and its address. When you prepare UCC filings or search UCC records, you need to know how to do this in other states.
Before the Internet, it was difficult to find out information about corporations and UCC filings in other states. When they were in Florida, I knew how to call the Florida Secretary of State and the Florida Division of Corporations. But if the corporation was in New York, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia or another state, I had trouble. But I still needed the information in order to file suit or search UCC filings for my client.
So, before the Internet, I had to first find out the capital of the state where the subject corporation was located since I could never remember the capital city from grade school. Then I had to call long distance information 1-area code-555-1212. I had to hope that state’s division of corporations had its own phone number. Often they did not. Before the Internet, it was tedious and time-consuming to find information about corporations, partnerships and other entities in other states.
This changed when the Internet came along in the 1990’s. I began to compile a list of Internet Web addresses for state secretaries of state, divisions of corporations, and UCC filing offices. Initially, only a few states had Web sites but as more and more set them up I created a page on my own law office Web site www.jamesmartinpa.com listing all of the links to state secretaries of state.
As more and more Internet users went to my Web page listing, I decided to create a Web site devoted to finding online public records in government agencies such as the secretaries of state which file corporate, partnership, LLC, LLP, LLLP and other entity records as well as Uniform Commercial Code financing statements. The Web site I created was www.SecSt.com, which is the predecessor to www.GovernmentFilesOnline.com.
In creating the site, I tried to keep these things in mind:
1-It should be simple.
2-It should be intuitive.
3-Scrolling should not be necessary.
4-Search icons should be arranged logically for each state.
5-The position of search icons should not change from state to state.
6-It should be accurate.
7-It should be current.
8-It should be pleasing to look at.
9-It should not have banners and ads.
10-It should be reasonably priced.
Over the years, other Web sites appeared that also provided links to public records of government agencies, but I think our site remains unique in maintaining the initial Ten Point Vision listed above.
I hope you agree.
James W. Martin, President
Government Files Online, Inc.
St. Petersburg, Florida
December 5, 2005
Add comment December 6th, 2005