Case Without Merit

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Reginald Hart v. Amazon.com, Inc.,

Case No.: 16-2793

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and FLAUM, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Case Without Merit

A very unusual case, this. The plaintiff, unrepresented by counsel (the district judge had recruited counsel initially, who, however, upon discovering that the suit was groundless, requested and was allowed to withdraw from the case, leaving the plaintiff to proceed pro se), has sued Amazon, claiming that it permitted third parties to advertise on its website six counterfeit copies of books called Vagabond Natural and Vagabond Spiritual that the plaintiff had written and self‐published (that is, published himself rather than handed to a publisher). According to his complaint he had written and published these books in order “to raise money and bring an end to vagabondage” by detailing his experiences as a vagabond (a homeless man). After self‐ publishing Vagabond Spiritual, however, he had decided not to release it to the public, yet it too had been advertised on Amazon.

Affirmed

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