What a Coinkydink! Overstock.com Buys Naming Rights Near Courthouse

How to get from the Overstock courthouse to the Overstock stadium

My favorite corporate crime petri dish, Overstock.com, is currently fighting a savage legal battle with seven California district attorneys over one of its favorite causes: its God-given right to rip off customers.

So it was fascinating to learn that Overstock had decided to spend $7 million to splatter its name over a stadium in..... guess where? Salt Lake City, where it is located, and where most such naming takes place? (You know, community goodwill and the like.) Or would it be Alameida County, where it is being sued?

You guessed it. What a coinky-dink! Why, they wouldn't be wanting to influence the legal process by throwing their shareholders' scant money around, would they? Of course not, though I have to admit that doing stuff like this is one of the grimiest and oldest ploys in creation.

In the map at the top, the new Overstock stadium is B, and the courthouse where it's fighting for its right to rip off customers is A.

Gee, what's the matter? Whatever happened to pay for play? Aren't politicians or judges for sale in Oakland? Don't DAs take political contributions?

Mark Shurtleff, have you thought of relocating?

© 2011 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.