Greg Lloyd Smith

Greg Lloyd Smith (born July 3, 1962) is an American-born businessman and Internet entrepreneur. He currently manages Mayside, Inc., and was involved in Baou, Inc., MPC Trading, and Kestrel Trading Corporation. He has also been involved with the controversial charity QuakeAid.
Relations with Amazon
Smith registered <tt>www.amazon.com.gr</tt> in Greece. He was sued by Amazon using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and the URL was subsequently awarded to Amazon.
Smith and Kestrel Trading Corporation were ruled against by a court in Scotland for using a domain name "as an instrument of fraud", and an "interim interdict" was upheld by the judge in the case.
OfficialWire
Smith also runs a website called OfficialWire (formerly OfficialSpin). This website is occasionally used by Smith and other members of BAOU to promote his own ventures, and release editorials critical of the Bush administration and on other subjects of his interest. For example, a member of BAOU once used it to criticize Christian Wirth, also known as RaD Man, a user on who removed the link to QuakeAID from a list of verified charities. The "OfficialWire NewsDesk" also released a report about business in 2002 which seemed to actually revolve around Smith's various ventures in 2002, such as the Scottish lawsuit and the failure of FrugalEscrow.
Trademark status
Smith has claimed registered trademark status on his own name [http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regserserial&entry78117117 (USPTO Serial Number: 78117117)], and used this to threaten legal action against others who mention it in the course of discussing his activities. However, he has also claimed the right to fair use of others' trademarks in very similar contexts in the course of his own online commentary.
QuakeAid charity
In July 1998 Greg Lloyd Smith and his wife Katerina Theohari-Smith created a company, QuakeAid, as a company limited by guarantee, and incorporated it in 1999 in England and Wales, under the Companies Act 1985. Although it was not registered as a charity, the objective of the company was the provision of humanitarian support and relief to earthquake victims throughout the world. To this effect it established a general disaster fund for victims of earthquakes throughout the world and also set up special funds in respect of the severe earthquakes in northwestern Turkey (August 16, 1999), the north and west areas of Athens, Greece (September 7, 1999) and the island of Taiwan (Taipei, September 21, 1999).(Read the factual background of QuakeAid as mentioned in a WIPO case involving it)

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