A feminist bookstore's owners want Amazon.com to quit asking about the bookstore's sexual orientation.
The bookstore just happens to be in a trademark infringement battle with the online bookseller - the store's name is Amazon Bookstore. Amazon Bookstore says matters such as its sexual orientation are irrelevant and its owners shouldn't have to answer such questions, according to the Associated Press. The questions came up in pretrial arguments last month.
"What does our sexual orientation have to do with a trademark case," asks Amazon Bookstore general manager Barbara Wieser. "Nothing."
The bookstore sued Amazon.com in April over the Amazon name, saying it confuses the public mind, the AP says. Amazon.com says it's going to prove Amazon Bookstore caters to lesbians while the online giant has a general interest audience. "If you're not in the same business," Amazon.com's Bill Curry tells the AP, "the likelihood of confusion declines dramatically."
Amazon Bookstore has been part of Minneapolis since 1970 and says it has rights to the trademark based on its 30 years of using it, the AP says.
