Alexander Vassiliev is co-author of the book 'The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America - The Stalin Era', which is being offered for sale by at the discounted price of $10.47. He is suing over a review by a London-based reader called John Lowenthal, claiming the review is defamatory and will make it harder for him to sell film and television rights for the book.
Amazon has confirmed that Vassiliev is suing over the review, which still appears on the site. A spokesperson said: "It is alleged that a customer review of this book, written by Mr John Lowenthal, a UK resident, and posted to Amazon.com's US site on or about February 1 2001, is defamatory under UK law."
A short biography of Lowenthal on the Amazon.com site says that he has been a practising lawyer, a professor of law and a documentary film maker.
Amazon's sister site in the UK ran into controversy earlier this year, when a mistake saw it offering expensive electronic personal organisers at sums far below usual retail prices. A group of lawyers threatened to take the retailer to court and force them to honour orders made at the lower price.
A pre-trial review was heard in the High Court this week.
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