Amazon.com has reached a $150,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by 17-year-old Justin Gawronski, who objected to Amazon’s decision to delete electronic copies of two books that it had been selling for its Kindle e-reader without actually having the rights. The deletions were made without the permission of the Kindle owners, and the move created outrage about the e-retailer’s ability to invade their privacy; others said it was akin to Barnes & Noble sneaking into people’s houses in the middle of the night to take back books that were the subject of copyright questions.
The great irony, of course, was that the two books it removed with Big Brother-like precision were George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized for the move and said it wouldn’t happen again, and Amazon compensated the affected Kindle owners, Gawronski – who lost his electronic homework notes on the Orwell books along with the texts when Amazon deleted them – was not satisfied.
Gawronski said that his settlement money would be donated to charity.
The great irony, of course, was that the two books it removed with Big Brother-like precision were George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized for the move and said it wouldn’t happen again, and Amazon compensated the affected Kindle owners, Gawronski – who lost his electronic homework notes on the Orwell books along with the texts when Amazon deleted them – was not satisfied.
Gawronski said that his settlement money would be donated to charity.
- KC's View:
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While I find Amazon’s behavior in this case to be outrageous, and it says positive things about the plaintiff that he is donating the money to charity, I do worry that he’s also learned another lesson – that litigiousness pays.
If this had happened to my 17-year-old, I would have yelled and screamed. I would have written about it here ad nauseum But I cannot imagine that I would have sued, or allowed or encouraged my kid to sue.
