[Charlie Smith has battled Wal-Mart for the last few years, in and out of court.  Below is his account of confronting Wal-Mart's mighty legal clout over free speech issues.]

I'm not the first person to call Wal-Mart "Nazis." 

In December 2004 while reading a book detailing the history of the rise of the Nazis and their attempt to take over the world, I came to a part that described how union leaders and liberals were among the first groups persecuted by the Nazis. Upon learning that, I thought, whoa! Taking over the world? Union bashing? Sounds like Wal-Mart.
 
I have always been interested in the idea of progress causing destruction or as the phrase proclaims, "creative destruction," a process in which the old ways of doing things are destroyed and replaced by new ways. The term was coined by Joseph Schumpeter. Schumpeter believed that the success of capitalism would lead to a form of corporatism, a political system dominated by corporations.

To that extent, the misery caused by people losing jobs through downsizing, outsourcing, and misguided economic policies are harsh realities that I felt needed a stronger designation. And so, I invented the parody term “walocaust.”  The purpose of the portmanteau is to call to mind the name “Wal-Mart” while at the same time expressing strong opposition to Wal-Mart and what the “Wal-Mart effect” truly represents.

On May 13 2005, one day after a story was published by the Arizona Daily Sun that told how campaign ads bankrolled by Wal-Mart had depicted a Nazi-era book burning to denounce citizens who were opposing its efforts to build more stores, I registered the domain name walocaust.com. (Keep in mind that 18 months after the Arizona ad, Wal-Mart was reprimanded for selling tee-shirts with Nazis SS logos on them.)

Through this entire time I had seen numerous stories and web postings detailing Wal-Mart’s misdeeds and would have occasion to chat with current and former employees about how they were treated. I then created a parody of a Nazi eagle, in which an eagle grasps a different version of the smiley face that Wal-Mart sometimes uses.  The smiley face is a symbol of happiness and good will. This paradoxical expression calls to mind the difference between the public persona Wal-Mart tries to convey and the avarice and ruthless business practices that drive the company.  I thought there might be like-minded people that would appreciate my parodies and in July 2005, I created art work and opened a CaféPress store.

On December 28th, I received an email from an attorney hired by Wal-Mart threatening me with trademark infringement and demanding that I cease and desist selling Walocaust items that had been posted on CafePress. They threatened to assess damages and attorney fees against me unless I agreed to their terms. CafePress had received a similar letter from Wal-Mart’s attorneys and removed my tee shirts from their site immediately.

On New Year’s day 2006, not knowing quite what to do and having the sinking feeling that I would have no choice but to agree to Wal-Mart’s terms, I decided to post the letter on several Yahoo political groups and ask if anyone knew how to handle something like this. I received a response from Robert Greenwald, who had produced the movie “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” he got me in touch with Lawrence Lessig. After reviewing the information I sent Mr. Lessig agreed to represent me through his group, Stanford Center for Internet and Society.

In February, even though I had made no further attempts to sell tee shirts, Wal-Mart decided to step up their threats and threaten to sue me for cybersquatting for registering the domain walocaust.com. It was at this point that knew that the only resolution that would have satisfied them was my complete and eternal silence.

At this time Public Citizen was asked to help with this case and Paul Levy became my attorney. After careful consideration a decision was made to ask for the court’s protection; without it, Wal-Mart would not only continue to impede my right to free speech but would make things worse. Soon after this case was filed, Wal-Mart filed a counter suit.

I also worried about the possible outcome and wondered if the fight would be worth it. Then I thought about all those who have sacrificed to protect our freedoms and who they are fighting now, and I came up with the word Wal-Qaeda to express my feelings towards Wal-Mart’s attempts to stifle free speech through the courts. I believe that the best way to protect free speech was to use it, so I registered the domain name wal-qaeda.com, created a website containing more parodies and opened a CaféPress store called walqaeda.

Once again Wal-Mart threatened litigation; this time however CaféPress refused to turn off the store.

Two years later On March 20th 2008 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the parodies that I’ve created are protected under the first amendment.

Thanks to Public Citizen, the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and the ACLU my first amendment rights have been protected, and a victory won for free speech.

My personal thanks to everyone that lent their support.

For several years now, I have believed that Wal-Mart, as the largest company in the world, has a special responsibility to set standards for other companies.  Instead, Wal-Mart has made poor wages standard, so any company that wants to be competitive will have to follow Wal-Mart's lead. It also sources much of its merchandise from countries with very low wages and dismal human rights records.  Thus, Wal-Mart is lowering the standard of living for American workers. Although Wal-Mart claims that its prices are low due to innovations in distribution and inventory control, I believe that its main innovations are suppressing wages, bullying workers, vendors, and communities, and being able to find China on a map. Wal-Mart’s greatest innovation may be figuring out how to get away with it without discouraging its loyal customer base.

Aside from rampant growth, Wal-Mart is moving from one industry to the next: from general merchandise to groceries, healthcare, business services, banking and beyond. I don’t think Wal-Mart will stop until it controls everything. People need to ask themselves if they want to support a company that is or may soon be not just competing with them, but possibly putting them out of business. Wal-Mart proclaims the importance of the communities it serves while selling destructive products such as alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.