diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cf4e1e4..1fd94cc 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 .rake_tasks
 site/public/index.html
 pkg/
+.bundle
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c80ee36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+source "http://rubygems.org"
+
+gemspec
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe3b911
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+PATH
+  remote: .
+  specs:
+    aws-s3 (0.6.3)
+      builder
+      mime-types
+      xml-simple
+
+GEM
+  remote: http://rubygems.org/
+  specs:
+    builder (2.1.2)
+    flexmock (0.8.11)
+    mime-types (1.16)
+    xml-simple (1.0.12)
+
+PLATFORMS
+  ruby
+
+DEPENDENCIES
+  aws-s3!
+  builder
+  flexmock
+  mime-types
+  xml-simple
diff --git a/aws-s3.gemspec b/aws-s3.gemspec
index e40fa52..69f6a10 100644
--- a/aws-s3.gemspec
+++ b/aws-s3.gemspec
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency 'xml-simple'
   s.add_dependency 'builder'
   s.add_dependency 'mime-types'
+  s.add_development_dependency 'flexmock'
   s.rdoc_options  = ['--title', "AWS::S3 -- Support for Amazon S3's REST api",
                      '--main',  'README',
                      '--line-numbers', '--inline-source']
diff --git a/lib/aws/s3/bucket.rb b/lib/aws/s3/bucket.rb
index 84d89d3..2548a18 100644
--- a/lib/aws/s3/bucket.rb
+++ b/lib/aws/s3/bucket.rb
@@ -76,7 +76,14 @@ class << self
         # in the section called 'Setting access levels'.
         def create(name, options = {})
           validate_name!(name)
-          put("/#{name}", options).success?
+          # workaround: PUT to create bucket should raise error (as specified in the AWS API docs) when trying to create existing bucket
+          begin
+            find(name)
+            raise AWS::S3::BucketAlreadyExists.new
+          rescue AWS::S3::NoSuchBucket
+            # bucket does not exist, so allow create PUT to go through
+            put("/#{name}", options).success?
+          end
         end
         
         # Fetches the bucket named <tt>name</tt>. 
@@ -316,4 +323,4 @@ def reload!(options = {})
         end         
     end
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/lib/aws/s3/exceptions.rb b/lib/aws/s3/exceptions.rb
index 9dab1a2..8f31e11 100644
--- a/lib/aws/s3/exceptions.rb
+++ b/lib/aws/s3/exceptions.rb
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ def initialize(message, response)
     class InternalError < ResponseError
     end
     
+    class NoSuchBucket < ResponseError
+    end
+
     class NoSuchKey < ResponseError
     end
     
@@ -90,6 +93,14 @@ def initialize(invalid_names)
         super(message)
       end
     end
+
+    # Raised if a bucket already exists with the specified name
+    class BucketAlreadyExists < ResponseError
+      def initialize
+        message = "The requested bucket name is not available. The bucket namespace is shared by all users of the system. Please select a different name and try again."
+        super(message, {:body => message, :code => 409})
+      end
+    end
     
     # Raised if the current bucket can not be inferred when not explicitly specifying the target bucket in the calling
     # method's arguments.
@@ -130,4 +141,4 @@ def initialize(klass)
     
     #:startdoc:
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/test/bucket_test.rb b/test/bucket_test.rb
index d241534..145ac18 100644
--- a/test/bucket_test.rb
+++ b/test/bucket_test.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,22 @@ def test_bucket_name_validation
       assert_raises(InvalidBucketName) { validate_name[invalid_name] }
     end
   end
+
+  def test_bucket_create_with_unique_name
+    bucket_name = 'foo'
+    flexmock(Bucket).should_receive(:find).with(bucket_name).and_raise(AWS::S3::NoSuchBucket.new('foobar', {:body => "foobar", :code => 404}))
+    flexmock(Bucket).should_receive(:put).with('/foo', any).and_return(flexmock(:success? => true))
+    assert Bucket.create(bucket_name)
+  end
+
+  # API says that create should error with a BucketAlreadyExists if name already is taken
+  def test_bucket_create_with_existing_name
+    bucket_name = 'foo'
+    flexmock(Bucket).should_receive(:find).with(bucket_name).and_return(flexmock(Bucket))
+    assert_raise AWS::S3::BucketAlreadyExists do
+      Bucket.create(bucket_name)
+    end
+  end
   
   def test_empty_bucket
     mock_connection_for(Bucket, :returns => {:body => Fixtures::Buckets.empty_bucket, :code => 200})
@@ -71,4 +87,4 @@ def test_bucket_name_should_have_leading_slash_prepended_only_once_when_forcing_
     flexmock(Base).should_receive(:delete).with(expected_bucket_path).once.and_return(mock_response)
     Bucket.delete(bucket_name, :force => true)
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end