Amazon.com has gone to court to fight the New York Times over the e-retailer's use of the newspaper's bestseller list.

Last month, the Times sent cease-and-desist letters to Amazon.com and Borders.com regarding the booksellers' use of the Times list on their sites. Amazon.com then met with the newspaper in hopes of striking a compromise, but parties could not agree on terms. The Seattle company then went to federal court to defend its use of the Times name. A hearing date has not been set.

Borders.com has met internally but has yet to make a decision on how to respond to the Times demand. For now, the list remains posted on both sites.

The companies received the letters soon after announcing in mid-May that all Times bestsellers would sell at 50% off. Amazon.com had not posted the list until then; Borders.com has had it up since it launched more than one year ago.

In a statement, the Times said that "Amazon.com's republication of the New York Times Bestsellers List on its Web site without our permission constitutes an unlawful use of our property. Amazon.com is using our property for its own commercial purposes and takes freely what other retailers license."

Some observers were surprised at the Times's action, given that many bookstores arrange titles according to the list. At press time, phone calls to the Times asking for comment had not been returned.

After its visit to U.S. District Court in Seattle, Amazon held its ground. "This is surprising in the sense that what we're doing is completely acceptable, just as you would say this movie is an Academy award winner," spokesman Bill Curry told PW. Borders was also taken aback. "This completely took us by surprise," said spokesman Rich Fahle.

New Georgia Warehouse

In other Amazon.com news, the company announced yet another exponential jump in warehouse capacity; it has obtained an 800,000-sq.-ft. facility in McDonough, Ga. The company hopes to have the warehouse open in time for the 1999 holiday season. The opening will bring total capacity to about 3.5 million square feet.

Some of that space, experts say, might be used for a new product category. Several published reports have said that the company will buy a stake in a toy company over the next few months. Amazon.com would neither confirm nor deny these reports.