Amazon.com Thursday settled an eight-month legal dispute with
woman-oriented bookstore Amazon Bookstore Cooperative.
In the settlement, both Amazon.com (AMZN)
and Amazon Bookstore Cooperative will work together on steps to ensure
that the public does not confuse the two companies there will not be any
confusion among the public about the association of the two companies.
The bookstore will now refer to itself by its full legal name of Amazon
Bookstore Cooperative. Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon Bookstore
Cooperative will assign its common law rights in the Amazon name to
Amazon.com. In turn, Amazon.com will then give a license back to Amazon
Bookstore Cooperative for use of the Amazon name.
Amazon.com can be found at www.amazon.com. Amazon Bookstore
Cooperative’s site is www.amazonfembks.com
“Now we can return to focusing on providing the products and services that
only an independent bookstore like ours can provide,” said Barb Wieser, president
of Amazon Bookstore Cooperative.
A lawsuit over the use of the Amazon name was filed by Amazon Bookstore
Cooperative against the leading online retailer on April 7 and was due for
trial next year. With the settlement, the lawsuit will be dismissed.
Amazon.com settled a lawsuit with Wal-Mart last April. Wal-Mart had alleged
Amazon unfairly recruited top technology executives from the superstore and
stole trade secrets.
“This settlement allows an important, independent bookstore that has been a
part of the strong tradition of independent bookstores in the Twin Cities
of Minneapolis and
St. Paul for the past 30 years to continue serving the local community
and beyond using
a name that is well known,” said Bill Curry, Amazon.com spokesman.
