Nearly two months after being sued for removing electronic books from Kindle owners' devices without their knowledge, Amazon has agreed to a settlement. The Internet retailer will pony up $150,000 to settle the class-action suit.
The first complaint filed against Amazon came from 17-year-old Justin Gawronski. The high-school student from Michigan sued after Amazon erased copies of author George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 along with notes on the book from his Kindle in July.
The lawsuit also claimed that Amazon had never told customers it had the right or ability to remotely delete content bought through the Kindle Store.
Ulterior Motive
Antoine Bruguier, an engineer and Kindle owner from California, became a co-plaintiff in the case against Amazon. The suit sought unspecified damages for each buyer as well as a ban on future deletions.
Amazon apologized for removing the electronic books but cited copyright issues involving pirated books. Amazon also issued refunds to buyers of the e-books.
KamberEdelson, the Chicago law firm that brought the class-action suit, said that isn't the only reason for pulling the e-books. "It turns out Amazon did this because it had wanted to sell more expensive versions of the books," attorneys at KamberEdelson said on their Web site.
"The digitization of books offers new opportunities for access, but also new risks of censorship and control," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Case Almost Settled
Gawronski and other Kindle readers got what they wanted -- sort of. Amazon agreed that it will no longer remotely delete books from U.S. users' Kindle e-book readers except in some specific situations.
"Current and future Kindle owners will be able to purchase e-books with greater confidence and have rights to that content," said attorney Michael Aschenbrener of KamberEdelson. "It lays out clearly the specific circumstances in which Amazon can delete content."
Amazon will remotely delete or modify an e-book if it is ordered to through a judicial or regulatory order, if by doing so it protects consumers against viruses that are embedded with an e-book or other content, and if a consumer fails to pay for the e-book or requests a refund.
"Amazon is going to respect its Kindle users' rights," Aschenbrener said. "Because of this, e-books will be treated like physical books."
Although the parties agreed to settle, the settlement still needs to be approved by a judge before becoming final.
Setting Precedent
KamberEdelson said it will donate its share of the $150,000 settlement to a charity that promotes literacy, children's issues, secondary or post-secondary education, health or job placement.
"We took this case because our clients felt strongly about the issues, as do we," Aschenbrener said. "This was about setting a precedent for the e-book industry and digital media businesses in establishing rights for users. So we felt it was appropriate to pass along any money."
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