Amazon.com proceeds against Amazon.gr
17.08.1999
The famous internet bookstore Amazon.com has instituted proceedings against the owner of the Amazon.gr site, which presents itself as the "Greece's Biggest Bookstore". Two lawsuits are instituted, one in the United States, the other in Greece.
According to Amazon.com, there is obviously mail fraud, wire fraud and criminal copyright violations.Amazon.gr defences itself by contending that the American has no industrial property right in Greece, the mark Amazon being registered in the name of the Amazon.gr owner.A disclaimer has appeared on the Amazon.gr site, specifying that they are not affiliated with Amazon.com and proclaiming their bona fide against this too self-confident Goliath...The case has to be followed (both sides will present their arguments in mid-September in Greece). But, even if an American court sentences the Greek society, it will be difficult to obtain the enforcement of the judgement.It has to be reminded that in the case SFR v. SFR.com the court of first instance of Nanterre ordered on January 18, 1999 the American owner of the SFR. com page (which was either inactive or linked to a France Telecom's competitor site...) to pay 1 million FF of damages and to give the domain name back. Today, the page is still inactive and the damages not paid...
