Looks like the legal team at Amazon.com is going to be working a lot of extra hours in the months ahead. In addition to dealing with the company's upcoming patent infringement suit against Barnes & Noble, they now need to devote time to a class action lawsuit.

The class action lawsuit was recently filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of all individuals and institutional investors that purchased the publicly traded securities of Amazon.com, Inc. between February 2, 2000 and October 30, 2000.

The complaint charges Amazon and certain of its officers and directors with violating federal securities laws.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants issued a series of materially false and misleading statements in SEC filings and press releases concerning the state of Amazon's financial condition and prospects as well as the high margin revenue streams created by the Company's investments in various joint ventures called Amazon Commerce Network partners ("ACNs").

As a result, the complaint further notes, the price of Amazon's common stock was artificially inflated throughout the Class Period, allowing Amazon's insiders to sell millions of personally held Amazon stock. It also claims that it was later revealed that instead of generating revenues in excess of $500 million, the investments in ACNs actually resulted in massive losses.

Attorney Jason Epstein, Co-Founder of the e-business group of Law firm Baker Donelson Bearman & Caldwell, is not surprised by the recent filing of the class action.

According to Epstein, just like as in the off-line world, when business drops we tend to see a rise in the number of shareholder lawsuits.

Epstein emphasizes that if it is determined that the statements made in the security filings and press releases were in fact materially false and misleading, then SEC rules could provide remedies for both individual and institutional investors.

Calls to Amazon were unreturned as of press time.