By Rachel Chalmers
Amazon.com Inc has filed a lawsuit against Greg Lloyd Smith and companies affiliated with him, accusing the co-defendants of cyber-squatting on the Amazon brand. The online retailer makes the rather hyperbolic allegation that Smith and his companies have violated the USA’s federal Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statutes, and that they have infringed and diluted Amazon’s trademarks and copyright. Lawyers for Amazon claim that Smith and his co-defendants have engaged in extortion, mail fraud, wire fraud and criminal copyright violations to such an extent that their behavior forms a pattern of racketeering activity. It’s a bit of a stretch. The RICO laws were framed in a bid to rein in organized crime, whereas Amazon’s complaint centers on a dispute over domain names.
The suit names Smith, his wife Aikaterini Theochari and two shell companies: a Delaware-based holding corporation called CITI Services Inc and a British firm, CITI Services Ltd, which is based in Mykonos, Greece. Amazon’s lawyers allege that Smith and his associates have been using the amazon.gr and amazon.com.gr domains to run Greece’s Biggest Bookstore, a copycat e-commerce venture that trades on the popularity of the other Amazon.com. It is further alleged that Smith encouraged his web developers to cut and paste portions of Amazon’s HTML for use on his own site. Then he tried to sell it back to Amazon. According to Amazon, on May 3, 1999, the defendants contacted the company offering a controlling interest in CITI for $1.6m. Amazon declined the offer, calling it a thinly veiled shakedown.
Now the Seattle, Washington-based internet giant wants treble damages and an injunction preventing Smith and his affiliates from using the domain names. In fact, Amazon wants the court to order that any domain name of CITI’s that contains the word amazon should be transferred to it. Amazon’s lawyers warn that the very fabric of our civilization will unravel if Smith is allowed to continue his rampage unchecked: Defendants have been and continue to engage in a scheme or artifice to defraud and to obtain money by means of false pretenses and representations, they write. Fraudulent acts of mail and wire fraud, extortion and criminal copyright infringement constitute a pattern of racketeering and pose a threat to society. This suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware. Amazon has already filed a lawsuit against Smith and his associates in Greece; that matter is scheduled for a hearing on September 16, 1999.
