Greg Lloyd Smith

Greg Lloyd Smith (born July 3, 1962) is an American-born businessman and Internet entrepreneur. He is married to a Greek, Aikaterini Theochari, and has three children. He lives in USA (New York) and Greece (Athens and on the island of Mykonos) He currently manages a corporation called "Mayside, Inc.", and has formerly been involved in companies called "Baou, Inc", "MPC Trading", and "Kestrel Trading Corporation", and has also been involved with the controversial charity QuakeAid. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia] [http://www.answers.com/topic/quakeaid] [http://www.ridingsun.com/posts/1134805044.html] [http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0815.html] .

Relations with Amazon

Smith registered www.amazon.com.gr in Greece. He was sued by Amazon using the RICO (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations) statutes, [http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,2073165,00.htm] [http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2073172,00.htm] 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. [http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/DRU2606.html] [http://web.archive.org/web/20030317084622/http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/2-7-19102-1-19-13.html]

OfficialWire

Smith also runs a website called "OfficialWire" (formerly "OfficialSpin") [http://www.officialwire.com/] . 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.Facts|date=July 2007 For example, a member of BAOU once used it to criticize Christian Wirth, also known as RaD Man, a user on Wikipedia who removed the link to QuakeAID from a list of verified charities. [http://news.baou.com/main.php?action=recent&rid=1979] 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. [http://news.baou.com/main.php?action=recent&rid=479]

Trademark status

Smith has claimed registered trademark status on his own name [http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78117117 (USPTO Serial Number: 78117117)] , and used this to threaten legal action against others who mention it in the course of discussing his activities. [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/pipermail/ukcrypto/2003-June/065908.html] 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.Fact|date=July 2007

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). [http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0815.html (Read the factual background of QuakeAid as mentioned in a WIPO case involving it)] QuakeAid is a low-profile company, better known not for its charitable work, but rather for the fact that it tried to use Wikipedia as a means of veiled self-promotion. Immediately after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a member of QuakeAID with the user name Baoutrust created an article in Wikipedia called "QuakeAid" and used it to promote the QuakeAID website. Wikipedia users raised concerns about the legitimacy of QuakeAID's charitable activities, and this led, after some controversy, to the deletion of the QuakeAid page from Wikipedia. .

External links

FrugalEscrow

* [http://www.e-consultancy.com/newsfeatures/12426/update-frugalescrow-counts-cost-of-pulled-ipo.html FrugalEscrow counts cost of pulled IPO]
* [http://www.e-consultancy.com/newsfeatures/16956/frugalescrow-takes-corporate-advisor-to-court.html FrugalEscrow takes corporate advisor to court]
* [http://www.propertymall.co.uk/press/article/7438 £11m Claim For FrugalEscrow Float Failure]

You've Got Post

* [http://forums.keeptouch.net/archive/index.php/t-25442.html Forum thread discussing reliability of YouveGotPost]
* [http://www.emailaddresses.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23929 Thread regarding shutdown of YouveGotPost]

QuakeAid

* [http://www.answers.com/topic/quakeaid A version of the deleted Wikipedia QuakeAid article can be found on answers.com]

Websites owned by Smith or his companies

* [http://www.greglloydsmith.org Smith's biography written by himself]
* [http://www.mayside.com Mayside Inc.]
* [http://www.officialspin.com OfficialSpin]
* [http://www.officialwire.com OfficialWire]
* [http://www.ovotein.com Ovotein]
* [http://www.spudstogo.com SpudsToGo]
* [http://www.w3rez.com W3Rez]
* [http://www.3105.com 3105 Ltd.]
* [http://www.quakeaid.org QuakeAid]