Angie's List sues Amazon Local
Angie's List has sued Amazon Local, accusing it of stealing provider lists and other proprietary information from Angie's website.
The federal lawsuit, filed Friday in Indianapolis, alleges that Amazon Local executives and other employees got access to the information by signing up as members of Angie's and copying provider profiles, member reviews and other information.
The information is being used by Amazon Local, a subsidiary of Internet retailing giant Amazon.com, to establish a competing service to Angie's, according to the lawsuit.
Amazon Local entered the home services procurement market last year, becoming a major new competitor to Indianapolis-based Angie's.
Angie's said its member agreement "explicitly prohibits the use of Angie's List's accounts and information for commercial purposes."
But the lawsuit contends that more than a dozen Amazon Local employees violated the contract. The Amazon Local employees are named as co-defendants in the lawsuit.
"Amazon Local has chosen not to devote the necessary time, resources and effort to compete legitimately with Angie's List. ... Instead, Amazon Local and its employees have chosen the shortcut of surreptitiously accessing and misappropriating Angie's List's proprietary information ... through dozens (if not more) of Angie's List membership accounts that were fraudulently obtained and misused," the lawsuit says.
It also accuses Amazon Local of trying to solicit business from service providers whose names it obtained from Angie's List online profiles.
Since its founding in 1995, Angie's has created a national listing of home repair providers and other businesses that its members can rank. The rankings are available to members to use in picking plumbers, electricians, and dozens of other businesses when they need work done on their homes.
Amazon employees openly scoured Angie's provider lists for names of top-rated companies and sometimes used the message system on the Angie's website to contact them and try to persuade them to join Amazon Local, according to the lawsuit.
Among Amazon Local employees named in the lawsuit are its product launch specialist, several regional marketing consultants and account executives, and its software development manager.
The Amazon employees "searched for service providers in cities located hundreds and thousands of miles away from their own homes," the lawsuit said. "Many of them also have run hundreds of searches across a vast array of unrelated service categories in a very short period of time."
The lawsuit said at least two Amazon Local employees even used the name Amazon in their emails when signing up for Angie's memberships.
The lawsuit levels a host of charges against Amazon Local, including misappropriation of trade secrets, theft, computer trespass, civil conspiracy and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Angie's asked the court for unspecified damages and a halt to Amazon Local's use of information taken from Angie's.
Angie's spokeswoman Cheryl Reed released a brief statement from the company about the lawsuit, saying, "Angie's List has spent more than 20 years developing our substantial database of proprietary information relating to home improvement service providers, consumer preferences and expectations, and industry standards across the country. This information is available to Angie's List customers for personal use — not for other businesses to use for commercial gain. We welcome competition, but on fair and legal grounds."
Seattle-based Amazon didn't respond by midday Monday to a request for comment.
Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317) 444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.
Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317) 444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.
Angie's v. Amazon
Examples in the Angie's List lawsuit of alleged actions by Amazon Local employees:
•Defendant Jacquelyn Vail, a team lead/senior sales consultant at Amazon Local, bought a membership in Angie's List and searched in 2014 for multiple service providers in many categories. She sent a message to a service provider in Charlotte that said, "I saw your deal on Angie's List and would be interested in putting together a similar deal to feature to our Amazon.com customers."
•Defendant Kristin Baker, an Amazon Local product launch specialist, signed up in 2013 for an Angie's List membership. Despite apparently living in Seattle, she began to review information for dozens of service providers in Albuquerque. In a three-month period, she searched for providers in heating and air conditioning, glass and mirrors, upholstery cleaning, flooring, tree service, handymen, hauling, carpet cleaning, pest control, electrical work, exterior painting, interior painting, and garage doors.
•Defendant Justin Hillman, an Amazon Local account executive, signed up for an Angie's List membership in April 2013 using the email address justinamazon44@gmail.com. Though apparently residing in Bellevue, Wash., he used his membership to perform more than 200 searches on Angie's List and access profiles of nearly 200 service providers, most in the Boston area.
•Defendant Daniel Malamud signed up for an Angie's List membership in 2013, just months after joining Amazon Local as an account executive. Although apparently residing in New York City, he reviewed information for hundreds of service providers on Angie's List in the Philadelphia area using the email address amazonsouthjersey@gmail.com.